


Broken Souls

by Huntz711



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Abuse, Dont judge my ships i promise theyre good, Fontcest, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Prolly lotsa abuse n shit, Skeletons, papcest - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2018-12-23 06:16:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 14
Words: 46,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huntz711/pseuds/Huntz711
Summary: Two worlds, so different yet so similar. Two evils from elsewhere, threatening to ruin the peace and content for their own selfish and sadistic desires.Get ready for some feels. I hope to have many in this story.I try to hold myself to at least 3,000 words per chapter.AUs involved: Swapfell, Underfell, Underswap, and Undertale.





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> So here's a new story.... PAPYRUS I AM SO SORRY  
> (I'm really not)

Papyrus ran out of his bro- no, his Lord's house, trying to ignore the furious shouting behind him. He'd woken up a minute late, to his superior's boot stomping down on his skull. He winced. That had hurt. A few kicks to the ribs later, he had made it downstairs, and after an angry yell about how he couldn't have breakfast as punishment, he was out the door.

He sighed. His stomach growled, and he flinched, looking around. If anyone had heard it, he would be marked as weak. Prey. He relaxed. No one was around. As he walked through town, he tried to ignore the soreness in his limbs, and the horrible gnawing feeling in his stomach. When was the last time he'd eaten? He thought back... _two weeks._ No wonder he was so hungry. He shrugged it off. Not as if it wasn't normal.

Looking up, he realized he'd reached his station. He moved behind the counter and sat down. Now came the hard part. He didn't dare sleep, but his exhaustion had gotten the better of him before, and he was often worried that it would do so again. Looking around, he struggled to find something, anything, to think about. It was all the same as it had been the day before. And the day before that, and the day before that, and the day before that...

His eyes drooped. Hearing the sound of footfalls on snow, he snapped his eyes open. A rabbit monster stood across the path from his station. A few feet away from the rabbit, to Papyrus's left, stood another monster, this one a bear. Looking to his right, he saw some kind of bird. The only way out was into the woods behind him. He moved to get up and run, but heard movement behind him. Too late. He felt something come into impact with the back of his skull. A strangled yelp escaped his mouth before he fell, landing in a heap in the snow. The monster who had knocked him out looked to the others.

"Well!? Grab him, and follow me." He ordered impatiently.

\- - -

Papyrus opened his eyes and saw only darkness. He panicked for a moment, before he realized that something was wrapped around his skull, covering his eye sockets and blocking his vision. He tried to move his hands to shift the problematic object, but found he couldn't. His hands were tied tightly behind him and firmly to something behind him. He was stuck in an awkward standing position and try as he might, he was unable to budge his hands. He breathed in sharply. Footsteps echoed down what he assumed was a hallway, and he tensed when there was the sound of a door opening. Papyrus felt the presence of more monsters.

"So, you're finally up." A rough voice could be heard from the doorway. "Do you know why you're here?"

Papyrus didn't answer. It was probably better to keep quiet. He didn't want to anger his captors. That would only make his situation worse.

"You know Sans better than anyone. Everyone knows you're his pet. But what we don't know is how to mess with him, to hurt him. You know his weaknesses, and you're gonna tell us."

The monster chuckled evilly. Footsteps approached him. He felt a hand placed on one of his ribs, and flinched. The monster twisted it painfully. Papyrus felt old wounds around the area start to reopen. He whimpered.

The monster didn't stop. The pain continued until there was a sickening crack. Papyrus screamed in pain. He felt the rest of the rib beginning to dust, and felt like he would dust, then and there. He shut his eyes, squeezing tears out of them. The pain did not die away.

The monster laughed sadistically.

He heard the _ping_ of his soul being summoned. Something was pressed into it. something sharp and uncomfortable... He whimpered in pain.

"Y'know how monster bodies are exactly like their souls are on the inside? Everything the soul feels, the body feels, and vice versa. " One of his captors sneered. "Let's check that idea out, shall we? ...unless there's anything about your brother you want to tell me?"

Papyrus didn't know his brother well. Far from it. There was nothing he could tell these people, even if he wanted to. He felt his stomach drop. He couldn't tell them anything, because there was nothing to tell. But they believed there was, and they thought he could tell them. _Oh god... what are they gonna do?_ Papyrus felt panicked.

Suddenly, he felt as if his rib cage was having a stake driven into it on the inside. It was agonizing. The feeling was even worse in his soul. He cried out. He felt someone holding onto it from the outside, squeezing it in a vice grip. The spike that had been shoved into his soul was almost poking out of the side of it. It seemed to hold still for a moment, until it broke the surface of his soul, appearing on the outside. Papyrus felt his spine being stabbed through, and he screamed in agony. The vice grip on his soul continued, and he felt as if his ribs were being forced to collapse into themselves. He kept screaming, out of his mind with the pain, unable to stop. The dripping of the bone marrow turned into long, thin streams of red-orange, dripping from him in large droplets. His soul itself was glowing weakly, the light from it growing weaker by the moment, yellow magic rolling off of it in waves. It was still in the monster's grip. Papyrus felt his already limited magic and energy leave him, and felt unable to move. He went limp, the magic in his soul no longer able to support him.

Another monster was heard approaching, and he felt a searing pain in his ribcage again. His soul was squeezed tighter, and his bones popped and being crushed by the pressure. His soul was half the size it had been before, and the spike had been driven all the way through it. The monster holding it gripped the soul tighter, and Papyrus felt an unfamiliar magic being fed to it. The soul lapped it up, and only then did he realize that it was healing magic. _Wait. It won't heal_ _properly if it's done like that!_

Papyrus's body felt as if it would smash into itself. He was struggling not to cry out. Suddenly, the pressure stopped, but he felt stiff. Many his bones felt as if they were in the wrong positions, but he couldn't move them back.

"Now then. We've had this old collar awhile... may as well put it to use." Papyrus's soul disappeared back into his ribcage.

Papyrus felt something fastened tightly around his neck. He felt someone grab it and roughly attach something, he assumed it was a chain, to it. He felt his hands untied from behind him and fell to the floor, unable to hold himself up. The impact sent a sharp wave of pain through his body, and he shuddered. He felt someone pick his skull up and yank the blindfold off none too gently. They let go, and his head fell back to the ground. He felt a tug on his neck, but didn't move.

"Sit. up." A new voice ordered cruelly.

Papyrus still didn't move.

"Now." The chain was tugged again, harder this time.

Papyrus whimpered softly. Shaking, he slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position, his bones screeching in denial. The chain was pulled roughly again before he felt a foot on his rib cage. He squeezed his eyes shut. Whoever it was was stomping down on his ribcage and pulling up with the leash simultaneously.

The pain was almost too much.

A distant crash reverberated down the hallway by the room. Light footsteps could be heard rushing down the hall. A purple blur rushed into the area, and a two of Papyrus's captors cried out in shock. A few bones were sent straight into them, skewering them and turning them to dust almost instantly. The other two began to run, but were stopped by similar attacks.

The new monster neared him.

"Papyrus."

Papyrus caught his breath. "m-m'lord..?"

"I'm very disappointed in you Papyrus. You managed to get kidnapped by these scum and didn't fight back at all. Fucking idiot."

Papyrus looked up at his brother to see him stroking his chin, thinking.

"Y'Know... maybe they had the right idea." He grabbed hold of the leash, tugging on it. "Come on, we're going home, _mutt._ "

Papyrus flinched at the tone in his brother's voice. The new insult confused him, too. He'd never been called _mutt_ before. Nevertheless, he picked himself up, still trembling. His damaged body felt like it would collapse from exhaustion and pain.

He was shoved back down onto the ground. "All fours," His lord ordered.

Papyrus fell back down and picked himself up again. Slowly, shakily, he maneuvered himself onto his hands and knees. The leash was yanked, and the shorter skeleton started walking quickly. Papyrus struggled to keep up, following his lord out of the building. His body screamed at him to stop, to just relax. He lost his balance and fell into the snow with a thump. Sans didn't stop, and Papyrus found himself being dragged by his neck. He shivered from the cold, and his eyesight began to blur. The world slipped away, and he fell unconscious.

\- - -

A few weeks later, Papyrus woke up early... again... He couldn't get up though, as he was chained to a hook on the wall by his collar. He shivered. It was never warm enough. Oh well. It wasn't like there was anything he could do. He hadn't had any type of bedding in his room since... the incident a few weeks ago. His Lord had that he wasn't any more than a pet. Property to be kept. He was surprised he hadn't dusted yet. Shifting on the cold, hard floor, he moved into a sitting position. His spine sent a spike of pain running through him as he tried to straighten it, and he sighed, hunching over so the pain would die down a bit.

He heard footsteps down the hallway towards his door. Sooner than he would've guessed, the door was kicked open and he lifted his head to see his lord storming towards him. The chain was unhooked from the wall and he was practically dragged from the room. He scrambled to gain some sort of footing, but was unable. Sans was pulling him to quickly. Suddenly, he was yanked forward. His motion stopped abruptly when the chain reached its full length and Sans pulled on it, tugging him back. He landed towards the top of the stairs, and, unable to right himself, toppled down them, his skull banging painfully on each one. He landed at the bottom, whimpering.

"m-m'lord.... i..i-i'm s-sor-"

"I've heard that so many times, you useless filth. Get your worthless ass to your station." His lord growled coldly.

Papyrus nodded and scrambled to his feet. He limped out the door and into the cold snow. Pulling his hood up, he began the long walk to his station. He swore it got longer every day. His teeth began to chatter, so he grit them together to stop the sound. It was windy today, and a few snowflakes were falling down from the clouds in the cavern ceiling.

He pulled his jacket further around himself, trying to stop the wind from blowing against his bare spine. The zipper had broken off long ago, and the jacket was thin, worn out. It was all he had, though, so he always kept it nearby him. His brother had thrown out the rest of his clothes, claiming that "Useless maggots like you don't deserve any clothes." and saying that he "Should be glad that I'm allowing you to keep what you have on."

Papyrus crossed his arms over his rib cage, trying to stop his bones rattling. It was way too cold for this. His feet were starting to freeze, and the bone that showed between his pants and his shoes was frosted over. He shrugged it off. It wasn't as if he could do anything about it.

He staggered towards his station, which was just coming into sight. The wind began blowing harder, and the snowfall became thicker. Papyrus ducked under the counter of his station and huddled there, trying to keep warm. He shuddered. The cold was gnawing at his bones, and his hands and feet were numb, shooting pain through his body periodically.

He shrunk back into the corner, as out of the wind as possible. He wrapped his arms tighter around his legs. The wind battered at the station, slipping through the cracks in the wood and blowing against him. Snow swirled everywhere, settling everywhere possible, the wind even forcing some under the station where it landed on and around Papyrus.

He didn't know how long he stayed like that, but eventually there was the sound of footsteps crunching in the snow. His brother was here. He couldn't seem to move. The cold had stiffened his limbs, and on top of that, the amount that he was able to move sent a dull pain shooting from all of his limbs.

The footsteps got closer, and Papyrus made out his lord's pointed boot, which had just stepped around the edge of the station. Sans crouched down and looked at the shivering form of his pet. He felt anger fill him. He'd given Papyrus orders to act as a sentry, and here he was, under the counter, slacking off like usual.

"Get up." His words dripped with malice.

Papyrus tried to force his limbs to move, sending all of his energy into trying to budge his frost-bitten limbs. He couldn't move. He heard his lord growl, and saw his hand take hold of the chain, tugging him out from below the counter.

"Up." Sans's voice sounded angrier now.

Papyrus tried. He couldn't force his arms or legs to listen to him. They were too cold. He might have been able to move them if his soul had been healthy, full of magic as it should be, but as it was, the soul was small, dull, and glowing so dimly that it could only be noticed if it was pitch black, and even then, only vaguely.

He heard a _ping_ and felt himself lifted up by his soul. His brother looked up at him furiously, before smiling. _Oh no._

Seeing sans snap his fingers, Papyrus felt his gravity change. He dropped suddenly, and was sent crashing into a tree. He heard a sickening crack, and vaguely wondered what had broke as he fell to the ground at the foot of the tree. The pain came suddenly when his soul caught up with what had happened. It was severe and sharp, and it felt like someone was hacking at his spine with a blunt axe.

He felt himself being lifted up again and didn't bother to look up this time. Instead of being sent crashing into something else, he was dropped into the snow. He felt the chain being grabbed, and his head was pulled up so he was facing his lord, who was crouching down, smiling at him maliciously.

"What's wrong, mutt? Can't take a beating?"

Papyrus didn't respond.

"Want me to stop?"

"y-yes..."

"Beg for it. We can always come up with a different punishment."

"p-please... m'lord... s-stop..." Papyrus's voice trailed off at the end as all of his breath went into a coughing fit. Each cough wracked through his body painfully. He whimpered.

"Are you sure? You're not saying it like you're sure."

He felt his brother's boot step on his skull.

"please! s-stop! i w-won't be i-in-insubordinate agai-!" The leash was yanked on, cutting him off.

"Alright. You've convinced me. Teleport us home. Now."

 _Wait... what?_ Papyrus pulled up the last of his magic, and the world disappeared. When it reappeared, he was in the living room of his lord's house.

"Instead of what I had originally planned, I'm going to punish you differently today..."

\- - -

Papyrus stayed limp as his brother dragged him by the leash up to his room. He felt disgusted with himself. His brother may have been terrible to him, but he'd never thought it would possibly go to that extent. He'd never thought his brother would _violate_ him like that. He never thought his brother would- no, that wasn't his brother. He didn't believe it. His brother would never do that.

He stayed limp and didn't fight back as his lord chained him in his room, and left him there. Where had his little brother gone? The brother that had come running to him for comfort when a particularly vicious storm battered at the house. The brother that had comforted him after a particularly bad nightmare. The brother that he could trust, that would never hurt him.

He curled into himself, tears pricking at his eye sockets. He knew. That brother was gone.

\- - -

It had been almost a month since his brother had decided that Papyrus was not only a pet, but a toy. He'd never in his life felt so... wrong, so repulsed by himself. The night before had been terrible. His brother had come home drunk, which was never a good sign.

He shuddered. No need to think about that.

Resting his head at his sentry station, he began chipping at his arm. The pain was enough to keep him awake normally, but his body was so drained... His eyes drooped, and he relaxed, falling unconscious.

He fell to the ground what felt like moments later. _Ugh, I fell asleep again. Must've fallen out of my seat..._ He went to get up, but felt a foot come down on his ribcage. He started.

"Papyrus, you worthless fuck. What the hell do you think you're doing?!" His lord screamed at him, stomping down.

There was a crack, followed by another, and two more after that, very quickly. Papyrus was pulled out of his half-conscious state as a searing, unbearable pain began in his rib cage. It seemed to creak for a second, before it caved in completely. Papyrus screamed.

"Shut up, you fucking idiot!" Sans screeched, kicking at Papyrus's face.

Papyrus moved his arms up to block himself, but only succeeded in worsening his pain as Sans's pointed boot drove right into his hand, shoving it into his face, still at full force.

Papyrus almost screamed, but stopped himself. He clutched his crushed hand to his chest, hoping the pain would go away. Bone marrow flowed freely from his hand and shattered rib cage. His Lord loomed over him, pressing his foot down on Papyrus's skull.

"This is the last time you disobey me you insubordinate leech."

He was picked up by his soul and bashed repetitively against a tree, painfully hacking up bone marrow with each impact. The space between his radius and ulna caught on a branch, and when he was pulled back, the two made a sickening cracking sound. He looked at his arm, and horror filled him when he saw that his ulna had snapped in half. Bone marrow splattered from the wound, blowing back into his face as his gravity was changed and he was sent back towards the tree, which by now had a large red stain on it from his bone marrow. This time, he got the tree skull first, and a splitting wave of agony rushed over him as he crashed into it. His soul was dropped, and he fell into the snow, unmoving. He breathed quickly, whimpering with each intake of breath and trying not to fall unconscious.

His owner stepped towards him, careful not to place his feet in any bone marrow. He stopped right by Papyrus's head. The wounded skeleton stared up at him, terrified. Sans stomped what was left of Papyrus's arm into the ground. Pulling back the other foot, he kicked at where his property's rib cage should have been. The kick sent him skidding backwards, but he stopped when his lord's boot, which was still on his arm, prevented him from moving further back.

Sans moved his foot so the heel was on top of Papyrus's radius. He put a small amount of pressure on the bone, and hearing a small whimper from his pet, stomped down as hard as possible. The force was enough to break the weaker monster's radius, and an agonized wail came up from the now violently shuddering skeleton.

Papyrus couldn't stop himself from crying anymore. A few tears fell from his eye sockets, before he curled in on himself, sobbing.

Hearing the sound of a weapon being summoned, he painfully moved his head to see what it was. A Gaster Blaster was right in front of his face. He flinched. The blaster opened its mouth to shoot, and Papyrus forced himself to roll out of the way, his bones and soul screaming at him not to move. The blaster fired, and hit a tree behind him, separating the stump from the rest of the trunk. The tree tilted precariously in his direction, before tottering for a moment and beginning to fall the other way.

Papyrus was almost relieved until a purple aura surrounded the tree. It moved back in his direction, and was soon tilting at a seventy-five degree angle, ready to fall and crush him. He looked up at his lord with pleading, desperate eyes.

"m-m'lord?" He was able to force out.

Sans didn't respond. The aura around the tree disappeared, and sans's mouth twitched into a smile as it fell onto his pet.

Papyrus felt the weight of the huge tree fall straight onto his spine, splitting it almost in half. He screamed.

He couldn't move, couldn't think. All he could see was the face of Sans, smiling sadistically down at him.

"b-brother, p-" he coughed, hacking up more bone marrow. "p-please... help..."

Sans's grin only grew, and he turned to begin walking away.

Papyrus whimpered, letting his pain overwhelm him. He felt his legs turn to dust, slowly, painfully. It felt as if he was slowly burning, bits of him breaking off and blowing away at random intervals.

It was at least an hour until the last piece of him split into a hundred shards and blew away in the wind. All that remained was his soul. The inverted yellow heart was cracked right down the middle. It was dripping bright yellow from the crack and from the two holes ripping right through the inside of it.

It wasn't done yet... there was no justice here. It hadn't deserved this life... No... It wasn't done yet...

 


	2. II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go

Sans hummed to himself, almost skipping as he left town. He was in a strangely jovial mood today. He hadn't even felt like teleporting to his station, instead choosing to walk.

Upon reaching his sentry station, he noticed that a large tree had fallen, barely missing the small shack.

Must've been that storm last night. It was really loud, He thought to himself.

He walked around the station and stopped in his tracks. Someone was stuck under the tree. Immediately, he ran forward to get a closer look. His stomach dropped.

"P....Papyrus?" His voice wavered.

No, that wasn't right, Papyrus had gone to Undyne's house for training. ...right? Still, though, Papyrus or not, this person needed help. Sans was quickly able to tell that there was no way this person was getting out from under the tree if it wasn't lifted. He took a deep breath. He hadn't used his powers in awhile, but he didn't see what else he could do. He stretched his hand out and the tree was surrounded by a blue aura. It lifted a miniscule amount. Sans kept trying, and he was finally able to hold the tree up about a foot over the other skeleton. Quickly, he pulled them out from under the tree. He let go of the tree, and it fell back to the ground with a crash.

Sans looked at the damaged monster on the ground. He breathed in sharply and covered his mouth with his hand. They were missing half of their arm, their ribs appeared to be completely desecrated, and their spine was almost snapped. Numerus scars and cuts dotted their bones, and bone marrow was already staining the snow around them. On top of that, there were icicles hanging from their face, snow all over them, and frost clinging to their eye sockets and to their clothes, which were also in a shocking state of disrepair.

Sans picked up the wounded monster, draping their non-broken (yet still in a terrible shape) arm over his shoulder. The shorter skeleton prepared to use one of his "shortcuts". Appearing back in his house in a matter of seconds, he dragged the skeleton over to the couch and set them down.

First things first, he needed to make sure they were stable. He checked them.

Papyrus: 1 atk, 1 def.  
Hp: 0.0001/1  
*Almost beyond repair. Almost.

Sans was confused. Wait... Papyrus? That's not Papyrus... Who is this? How is he not dead...? That hp amount isn't supposed to be possible... unless... He shook his head. Questions later. I need to help him.

He ran up to Papyrus's room and opened the closet. He pulled a pair of baggy black sweatpants and red sweater out of it, not bothering to pick up the other clothes that had fallen off the shelf in the process. He dashed back downstairs. Taking a deep breath, he pulled this monster's shirt and jacket off. He almost gagged. His upper body was stained red with bone marrow, and he was missing more than a half of his rib cage. What was left of it was riddled with cuts, fractures, and old scars. The skeleton was shivering violently, but Sans had to focus on cleaning him up first. He couldn't help if he couldn't even see what was wrong. 

He hurried into the kitchen and grabbed a few wash cloths, using his magic to float one up to the tall sink and dampen it.

Sprinting back out to the couch, he began to clean the marrow and caked dust off of this skeleton as gently as he could. The skeleton whimpered in his sleep a few times, and every time he did, Sans flinched, apologizing over and over in his head.

As he kept going, Sans could see that he would have to heal this monster very soon. He wouldn't last much longer. He summoned his magic and placed his hands on the mangled skeleton's spine, as there wasn't really much of a rib cage to speak of. He let the green energy flow from himself into this other monster. Some cuts scarred over, while others didn't change at all. Sans sighed. He'd never been very good at healing.

He checked the guy's hp again. 

0.02/1.

Definitely better.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled his phone out and shot a text to Alphys.

Can you come over here? It's urgent. Bring medical supplies.

Not waiting for an answer, he turned the phone off. He noticed that he hadn't gotten all of the marrow off. Picking the rag back up, he rubbed at a few spots to clean some more of the grime off. After the monster's entire spine was clean, he looked him over. Something purple stood out on the skeleton's neck. Sans was confused for a moment, before realizing with shock it was a dog collar. It was on very tightly, and barely moved when he tried to budge it. The d-ring on the front was almost broken through from having a leash connected to it.

Sans loosened the collar, undoing the buckle and pulling it off the skeleton's neck. He looked it over. Written on the inside of the collar, he read:

Property of the great and terrible Sans.   
If interested in purchase, pay 340 g.

Sans could feel the spaghetti he'd had for breakfast about to come up. Not only was this person marked as someone else's property, but that person was terrible enough to put a price tag on him. On a real, living, breathing, thinking monster. And, if the sickening theory that was growing in his mind was correct, his own brother. 

He threw the collar away from himself as hard as he could, disgusted. Turning his attention back to the skeleton's neck, he began to clear away the bone marrow and dust that caked everything. He uncovered a deep scar right above where the collar had been. Gently, he continued to wipe the bone marrow away. The cut zigzagged before stopping, and sans made out the beginning of another cut. He began clearing that one off too. He drew in a breath. It looked suspiciously like an "A"...

He moved the cloth up, clearing away even more marrow, and was horrified to find an "N" and an "S". He looked again, and sure enough, the name "SANS" was carved into this monster's neck.

Sans felt a burning anger inside him. Who the hell would do this? Shuddering, he gathered up the courage to take a look at the wretched creature's arm. It was leaking bone marrow onto the couch at an alarming rate. Sans quickly grabbed one of the dry wash cloths and pressed it against the wound. It was soon soaking wet, glistening with the bright red bone marrow. Sans was unsure of what to do. Pressure, he thought. It needs pressure to stop bleeding. He applied a little more force to the cloth. Sure enough, after about five minutes of no results, the bleeding slowed. Sans tied a fresh wash cloth around the wound. 

He steeled himself. He wasn't sure if he was comfortable with what he was about to do, but this monster needed to be helped, and he needed it right now. He gently grabbed the skeleton's pants and slowly pulled them off. The larger monster whimpered, but remained unconscious.

Sans's breath caught in his throat. There were way too many scars around... No... That bastard couldn't have...

He wanted to scream. By now he sincerely hoped that his theory was not correct, but there were too many things pointing towards it. This monster's uncanny resemblance to his brother, the name carved into his neck and on the collar, and the name he had seen when he checked him almost proved it. Hell, even this person's whimpers were exactly the same as that of his own brother's when they had been homeless in Snowdin, after their dad died and before Grillby took them in.

He still hoped he was wrong.

He needed to get back on course. He started to clean the monster's feet with a new damp cloth. It didn't seem to him that much could happen to one's feet, but apparently whoever had abused this skeleton did. One foot was all but crushed, and the other was missing two toes and covered in deep cuts and scrapes. Once he finished, he moved onto his calves. There were numerous fractures in one fibula and a half-healed break in the other. Both tibiae were covered completely with scratches. Careful to avoid those, he wiped off the marrow and dust from the area. The Papyrus look-a-like was whimpering the whole time. sorry, Sans thought.

Sans moved up to the skeleton's femurs, but he noticed something else. How the FUCK did I not notice that his patella was dislocated? 

Sans sighed. He took hold of the small, incorrectly positioned bone and pulled it back into place, flinching as his patient yelped in his sleep. He still didn't wake up. Sans began to clean one of the other skeleton's femurs with the rag. Upon finishing, he moved onto the other. After that, he steeled himself.

Just do it. Make it quick, and get it over with. Come on, Sans. 

\- - -

He finished up by clearing the caked red dust from the other skeletons skull. He sighed. The skeleton was looking a lot better, but he was still covered in cracks, some of which were still bleeding. Sans stood and grabbed a box of bandages from a cupboard in the kitchen. Heading back towards the monster on the couch, he set the box down on the floor. The other skeleton was shivering violently. He was even cold to the touch. Sans would have to make this quick so he could warm him up sooner. 

He pulled the now soaking red cloth from the monster's broken arm and quickly replaced it with a clean bandage. He then moved to the larger cuts on some of the skeleton's remaining ribs and spine, and then onto his legs. Once he was satisfied, he picked up the sweatpants from where he'd set them earlier. Gently, Sans pulled them onto the unconscious skeleton. Grabbing the sweater, he pulled it over the monster's head, maneuvering his arms so they fit through the arm holes, trying not to grimace when he pulled the sleeve onto the broken arm. Afterwards, he sat on the floor, leaning against the couch and shutting his eyes.

\- - -

Alphys approached the door to Sans's house. She was curious as to why he'd called her over, and what could be so "urgent" as he had said in his text. 

Pulling out her phone, she checked again to make sure the skeleton hadn't answered. He hadn't. Looking up from the device, she raised her free hand and tentatively knocked on the door. No answer. She knocked again, louder this time, but still received no indication that anyone had heard. 

She sighed. Whatever, she thought. If it's so urgent, he can't get mad at me for inviting myself in. Slowly, she turned the doorknob and entered the house.

The lights were on, and looking around she noticed Sans laying on the carpet, leaning on the couch. He seemed to be asleep. On the couch itself, she noticed another monster. It looked like another skeleton. Maybe it was the brother Sans kept talking about. She'd never actually met him.

"Sans?" she asked.

The skeleton started, before opening his eye sockets. "oh, 'sup alph." He greeted.

"Um... Why did you t-tell me to come here?" She questioned.

He stood up. "this guy needs medical attention. i've done the best i could, but i couldn't risk accidentally hurting him by guessing."

"I-Is this your brother?" Alphys looked at him closer, becoming rather worried. He looked very beaten up.

"no. not completely sure who he is, but i have a theory. he needs help, though. like, right now."

Alphys moved in front of the couch. "O-Okay... I-i need to get to his soul. It'll be easier if... well... I need you to take his shirt off..."

Sans nodded. "okay." He approached the monster, and gently pulled his sweater back off, trying to ignore the small whimpers he let out. 

The larger skeleton began shivering again.

Alphys drew in a breath at the sight of their ribs, spine, and arms. 

"Wh... What h-happened to h-him!?" She cried.

"i don't know," Sans answered. "he was like this when i found 'im. 'cept... well... he was sorta covered in bone marrow and.... dust."

Alphys looked at the wretched creature sadly. She took a deep breath. "I-I'm gonna summon his soul now..." She informed.

"okay. careful, though. his body's so damaged... i'm not sure that his soul isn't in a similar state. that's why i didn't do this myself." Sans warned.

Alphys nodded. She closed her eyes, before calling on her magic. There was a soft ping. Hearing an intake of breath beside her, she opened her eyes, glancing towards Sans. His hands were cupped over his mouth, his eye was blazing, and he looked to be somewhere between pity, sadness, and rage. Steeling herself, she looked at the soul in front of her. She took a step back, horrified. 

The small, inverted heart was less half the size it should be, and was broken almost in half, an almost microscopic strand still holding the pieces together at the top. It was twisted and maimed, pieces missing from where they should be, and painful bends and twists everywhere. Two holes were ripped through it, one large and jagged, the other smaller, and smoother around the edges. The crack and the two holes were dripping bright yellow, dimly glowing magic. The soul itself was a worn, dirty gold, so devoid of magic that it was almost gray.

Alphys held out a shaking hand, and the soul floated onto it. Green magic flowed from her fingers and into it. It grew in size and some color returned, but it didn't change in shape. Still, she kept sending healing magic into it, hoping there was more she could do.

The skeleton on the couch flinched. "p-please, m-m-m'lord, s-stop... l-let me... let me s-sleep, i'm s-s-so t-tired.... m'lord p... please d-don't...ngh..." The rest was unintelligible. 

The skeleton curled into himself, tears squeezing out of his closed eye sockets. 

Alphys let go of the soul and let it float back into the skeleton's ribcage. "I-I can't do anything else for his s-soul, but I c-can look at his other injuries." 

Sans nodded. "i gotta go do something. i'll be right back."

Alphys didn't respond, already busy pulling the bloody bandages off the Papyrus copy... and trying not to show her horror at how bad his injuries were.

Sans walked outside and turned on his phone, checking the time. It was 11:25. Papyrus would be back from training at 11:30. He'd need to stop him before he kicked open the door. That would DEFINITELY not help the hurt monster inside, especially if he woke up.

His phone vibrated in his hand, and a text message notification popped up on his lock screen. 

TRAINING IS LASTING LONGER THAN USUAL TODAY. I'M GOING TO BE HOME AROUND SIX. ARE YOU OKAY BY YOURSELF?

Sans sighed, smiling. Perfect timing, bro... Now he didn't have to do anything. 

I'm good, bro. got somethin to work on with alph anyways

Turning his phone off, he stepped back into the house.

Alphys was still next to the couch. She had a concentrated look on her face, so he decided not to bother her. 

\- - -

She didn't finish until around 3:00, and by then, Sans had gone away somewhere to "actually do his job", which she highly doubted was the truth. The skeleton in front of her was still in a shocking state of disrepair, but he was obviously in way better shape than he had been before. Noticing he was still shivering, the lizard monster grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch and draped it over him. He curled up into it. 

Turning to leave, Alphys quietly opened the door and let herself out, closing it behind her.

\- - -

Papyrus slowly pulled out of unconsciousness. He was feeling warm and comfortable... that was rare. He didn't want to let go of the warmth... all he'd felt for a long time was cold and pain.... He curled up into a fetal position, trying to preserve the warmth and to ignore the pain radiating from his sore limbs.

There was the sound of a door opening, and Papyrus's eyes shot open. He looked around. He was... on the couch? Quickly, he rolled off it, landing hard on the floor with a thud. He didn't move. There was a gasp from the direction of the door and footsteps neared him. That would be his lord.

"...m-m'lord... i-i'm s-s-sorry i was o-on the c-couch... i-i kn-now... n-n-no mutts on the f-furniture.... p-please d..d-don't p-punish m-me...."

"Are you okay?" A rather unfamiliar voice asked.

Papyrus tilted his head in confusion. His well-being didn't matter. He knew that. Why was this person asking?

"wh-who a-are you?"

The unknown person didn't answer, and Papyrus got the sinking feeling that they were angry.

"i-i'm s-sorry! i-i sh-shouldn't a-ask questions..." He held his hands in front of him protectively, expecting to be hit. 

"Hey, it's okay! I'm not going to hurt you!" The voice said in a comforting tone. It sounded surprisingly genuine.

Papyrus was confused. He looked up. "y-you're n-n-not?"

The stranger shook his head. "Of course not! It's obvious that my brother brought you in here, because no one else has a key, and anyone my brother wants to help is most definitely not someone I, the great Papyrus, would ever dream of hurting!"

Hang on a moment.. did he call himself Papyrus?

"o-oh... s-sorry... for n-not kn-knowing..." 

"It's fine! Here."

He saw a hand reaching down towards him. He flinched, jerking backwards, but no impact came. He looked up. A cheerful looking skeleton was smiling down at him, hand outstretched.

Hesitantly, he took the hand that was offered to him. He felt himself being pulled to his feet.

\- - -

Papyrus got a better look at this new monster's face. He was a skeleton, like himself. Actually, he was a lot like Papyrus. His face was almost the same except he had a crack running up from his eye socket. He was lanky, like him, but were about four inches shorter. 

"What's your name?" He asked, curious.

"p...p-papyrus, s-s-sir..." The unfamiliar monster answered, stuttering.

Papyrus was rather confused, and didn't respond for a moment. The other skeleton shrank back. 

"s-sorry, s-sir..." He began trembling.

"Hey, calm down! It's okay, I'm not angry." Why was he so scared? 

The other monster didn't respond. They were trembling. 

"I was just confused because my name is also Papyrus." He said.

The other monster still didn't respond.

"Are you okay...?" Papyrus gently took hold of the monster's arm.

"i-it... i-it doesn't m-m-matter, s-sir." He responded.

"Of course it does! I want to make sure you're okay! If you need help, I need to assist you!"

"a-assist... m-me..?" He didn't seem to understand. "i-i don't kn-know wh-what..."

Papyrus felt bad for him. He looked so confused and scared...

"Is it okay if I hug you...? You look like you need it." He stood there awkwardly.

"u-um... what is... 'hug'?"

Papyrus didn't say anything. This person didn't know what a hug was?

"s-sorry! i-i'm s-s-sorry i-i d-don't kn-now wh-what that i-is... i'm j-just a s-stupid m-m-mutt.... p-please... d-don't h-hurt me..." The stranger began trembling even more.

Papyrus started. "Hey, calm down! It's okay! I'm not going to hurt you. I can show you what a hug is if you want..."

The stranger looked unsure. "...o...okay..."

Papyrus slowly approached him and gently wrapped his arms around him. He was shaking.

\- - -

The unfamiliar monster wrapped his arms around Papyrus. He didn't move an inch. The skeleton's embrace felt... warm. It was kind of nice. Papyrus got the urge to return the gesture. Slowly, he lifted his good arm. Shakily, he wrapped it around the monster.

He didn't want to let go. 

The other monster slowly pulled away, and Papyrus missed the warm feeling immediately. Looking up, he noticed that the stranger was staring at his broken arm with a confused face. He reached over to it with his remaining hand and covered it.

The other papyrus averted his eyes. "Sorry... Um... You look kind of unsteady. I think you should sit down."

Papyrus sat right down where he was, not wanting to make this monster angry.

"Um... You can sit on the couch..."

Papyrus tilted his head. "m-m'lord d-doesn't l-let me sit on th-the couch... m-mutts a-aren't allowed on the f-f-furniture..."

The other skeleton shook his head. "You don't have to sit on the floor." He moved towards Papyrus.

Papyrus flinched, expecting to be hit, but the other Papyrus just picked him up gently and moved him onto the couch. 

Other Papyrus walked towards the kitchen. "I'm going to go make some spaghetti. You need to eat something."

There were footsteps upstairs, and Papyrus looked in the direction of the noise. Upon seeing who it was, he froze up.

The new person spoke. "so, pap. are you saying..."

The voice was very familiar.

He didn't have time to think about it, as a rather angry voice coming from the kitchen startled him. "Sans, don't you dare!" 

"he could really..." 

"Sans, I am warning you..."

"use some meat on those bones?" 

"SANS I SWEAR TO ASGORE!!!"

The shouting scared Papyrus, and he shrank backwards into the couch with a terrified yelp.

"woah, uh, are you okay?"

Papyrus looked up and saw his lord halfway down the stairs and walking towards him. He shrank further backwards, trembling.

"m-m-m'lord i-i'm s-s-sorry please d-don't p-punish me...."

"kiddo, are you okay?"

Papyrus didn't hear him. "i s-swear i'll b-be good-" A sob wracked his body ."...i w-won't m-mess up a-again i'll b-be obedient... p-please d-d-don't..."

He curled into a ball, waiting for the pain that was sure to come to start, but nothing happened.

"k-kiddo, calm down! i'm not gonna hurt ya!"

There was a moment of awkward silence.

Papyrus drew in a shaky breath and looked up. "y-you're... n...not?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAND there's that 
> 
> Take my shitty story
> 
> TAKE IT
> 
> yeah okay I'm gonna go now bye


	3. III

 

**Meanwhile, in a world with a very similar story...**

Stretch woke up as a scream came from the skeleton next to him. He turned.

"red!? are you okay!?" He stared at the trembling monster, worried.

Red was curled up, sitting with his knees hugged to his chest. His eye was glowing a bright scarlet, and he was desperately gasping for breath.

"RED, CALM DOWN!" Stretch shouted, hoping to get through to him.

" **s-stretch! blue!? n-no...** " Red whimpered, still stuck in whatever nightmare he was experiencing.

Papyrus approached him, not sure what to do. He wrapped his arms around the shuddering skeleton, hoping to comfort him. "red, it's okay! you're here. i'm here. blue is alright. wake up!"

The smaller skeleton's heavy breathing slowed. "s....str...etch?" He whimpered.

"i'm here, buddy."

Red practically melted into him, sobbing. "i... i... you died... y-you and b-blue both and i-i was all a-alone, and my b-b-boss was th-there and he-" sobs wracked his body, making it too difficult to talk. "p-please don't l-leave me..." He whispered, burying his head in Stretch's hoodie.

"i'll never leave you. i know blue won't either. we're here for you..." Stretch rubbed Red's back comfortingly.

"th-thank you..." He rested his head on Stretch's chest. "i l-love you..."

Stretch smiled. "love you too, kid."

Red snorted. "w-why do ya call me k-kid when we're the same a-age?

"'cause you're small." Stretch stated matter-of-factly.

"i-i am not!" Red blushed a brilliant crimson.

"y'are too." Stretch hid a smile, trying to keep a straight face.

Red crossed his arms and pouted. "sh-shut up..."

Stretch clanked his teeth against Red's skull.

"th-that's it! i'm l-leaving. goodbye, stretch." Red huffed.

He stood and began to exit the room.

"rrrreeeeeeeeed, nnnnoooooooo!" Stretch fell backwards from his sitting position, his head hanging off the side of the bed.

He stared pitifully at Red, who snickered. "s-seriously?" he questioned, before leaving the room.

Stretch chuckled, shoving himself off the bed and standing to walk out the door. Reaching the bottom of the staircase, he strode over to the couch and flopped onto it.

His brother's head popped out from inside the kitchen. "PAPYRUS, YOU JUST GOT UP!!! WHY ARE YOU ALREADY LOAFING AROUND ON THE COUCH?"

Papyrus snorted. "i've been up a full thirty seconds, bro. m'tired."

Another call came from the other room. "stretch, i-i'm about to throw away y-your honey stash~!"

Stretch sprung from the couch, tripping over himself as he dashed into the kitchen. "okay yeah i'm up please don't do that give me the honey please."

Red chuckled and tossed the bottle at him. He caught it and quickly checked to see if any of it was missing.

"reeeeedddddd, you drank some!"

"s-so what, ya big baby?"

Stretch glared at him jokingly. He glared right back, but was unable to keep the expression, snickering to himself and looking away, a slight blush on his face.

Blue stared at them before chuckling. "YOU TWO ARE WEIRD. ANYWAYS, I FINISHED THE BREAKFAST TACOS!" He held up three plates of tacos, two in his hands and one resting rather precariously on his arm. Each plate had two tacos.

"thanks, bro." Stretch walked over and sat at the table, where Blue was setting out the food.

Red joined him soon after, holding a bottle of mustard. Withut hesitation, he flipped it over and squeezed its contents onto the tacos.

"REEEEDDDD WHY DO YOU RUIN MY CULINARY MASTERPIECES WITH YOUR STUPID MUSTARD??" Blue whined.

"b-because m-mustard is the most important food, and i-i can't miss a single o-opportunity to have it." Red answered, without even having to think about it.

Blue looked over to where Stretch had all but covered his own tacos with honey. "HMPH. AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO THINKS MY TACOS ARE OKAY WITHOUT ANYTHING ELSE? WHY, OH WHY DID I HAVE TO BE CURSED WITH TWO LAZY, CONDIMENT-DRINKING BROTHERS?"

A few minutes were spent in comfortable silence, while each of the three brothers ate.

"so, uh, blue. what's on the agenda today? i wasn't listening when you explained it last night."

Blue growled. "SERIOUSLY, BROTHER?"

"yep." Stretch answered.

"WELL, I GUESS ALL I CAN DO IS FILL YOU IN. I GOT RED A JOB AS A SENTRY, AND YOU AND HIM ARE GOING TO SHARE YOUR SENTRY STATION UNTIL THERE'S A NEW ONE BUILT. IT'LL PRETTY MUCH BE A NORMAL DAY. YOU JUST HAVE TO MAKE SURE RED KNOWS WHAT HE'S DOING."

Stretch nodded. "well that sounds easy enough."

He stood up and walked his and Red's plates to the sink, washing them off. "i think we're gonna head out then. red?"

Red nodded.

"I'LL LEAVE TOO, THEN. SEE YOU LATER!" Blue grinned, thinking of something as he walked out the door. "DON'T SPEND SO MUCH TIME SNOGGING THAT YOU MISS ANY HUMANS THAT COME!"

With that, he slammed the door shut. Stretch and Red heard his boots crunching in the snow, as he ran away yelling "MWEH HEH HEH!" all the way.

"alright, we should probably head." Stretch said, holding out his hand to Red.

Red took it without hesitation, and the two disappeared, appearing at Stretch's sentry station a moment later.

Stretch approached the small building and leaned against it. "you can take the seat." he nodded at Red.

"o-okay," Red answered, smiling.

After a few minutes of silence, Stretch groaned. "whhhyyyyyy is it so boring out here?"

"d-don't you come out here every day?" Red raised one nonexistent eyebrow. "y-you should be used t-to it by now."

"yeah, but now i have someone to complain to." Stretch shrugged.

"i-idiot." Red smirked.

"hey!" Stretch exclaimed accusingly.

"w-what? i-i'm speaking only the truth." Red snorted.

Both of them turned when they heard crunching footsteps from in the woods. A dark figure was standing in the shadows of the trees.

"So this is where you ran off too, you impudent little shit."

Red knew that voice. "no..."

"Scared, are we?" The figure asked. "Well... **you should be**."

They stepped forward, revealing themself.

"b-b-boss..." Red stammered, terrified.

Stretch quickly moved between the other two, shielding the now violently trembling Red.

"you're not getting to him, you sick fuck."

"That's what you think..." quickly, the darker skeleton darted in towards Stretch, aiming to trip him.

Stretch dodged out of the way easily.

"s-stretch! do-don't fight h-him! he... he'll k-k-kill you!" Red yelled, stuttering.

"don't worry, red. i've got this." Stretch assured.

"n-no, y-you don't u-understand... i _c-can't_ l-lose you! h-he'll..." Red begged.

Stretch turned to him. "red, i'll be fine. just get out of here."

Papyrus, behind him, grinned wickedly. Stretch felt his soul being summoned.

"You shouldn't have let your guard down." The menacing skeleton chuckled.

"b-boss, p-p-please! don't h-hurt him! i-i'll go with y-you, and i w-won't run away! j-just p-please..."

'Boss' regarded Red, smiling cruelly. "Okay, pet. Come here."

Red shakily stood up and made his way towards the taller skeleton.

"red! don't!" Stretch cried, a scared expression on his face.

Papyrus sneered at him. "He's not going to listen to _you._ I'm his master."

Red flinched at the word. It was true, though...

Papyrus pulled a collar out of his pocket, similar to the one Red had worn before. He fastened it around Red's neck and pulled a second object out of his pocket. A leash. Red stared at it for a second, before looking away, eyelights downcast. He stayed still while Papyrus attached the leash to the d-ring on the new collar.

"There we go, pet. Just like you used to be." He grinned evilly.

He glanced towards Stretch who was still hanging by his soul. There were tears in his eye sockets and sadness mixed with rage on his face.

"As for you," Papyrus brought up his gloved hand and moved it sharply to the left.

Stretch let out a startled cry as his gravity shifted and he was sent plummeting into a nearby tree.

Red's eyelights got smaller and he looked up at his boss desperately. "b-boss! you said you w-wouldn't-"

"I'm just making sure he can't follow us." He dropped Stretch to the ground.

He tried to get up, but the pain in his bones was too much. All he could do was watch Red get dragged away. A few tears threatened to fall, and he let them. _I couldn't protect him..._

He didn't really know how long he lay there. He just knew that now there were crunching footsteps approaching and a pair of blue boots within sight.

"PAPYRUS! ARE YOU SLACKING OFF AGA- OH MY GOD, WHAT HAPPENED!?" the smaller skeleton rushed towards him.

"r-red got taken... i-it was his brother.. w-we have to find him!" Stretch stared at him desparately.

"BUT WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?" Blue questioned, worried.

"nothing, m'fine. c'mon, we need to save red." Stretch brushed it off, attempting to get up.

He fell to the ground, too weak from hitting the tree to move.

"NO, YOU'RE NOT OKAY. C'MON, WE NEED YOU TO GET HEALED UP. YOU'RE NO USE TO RED IN THE SHAPE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW."

Stretch sighed... "but bro..."

There wasn't much else to say. He knew Blue was right.

\- - -

Red whimpered as he stumbled through the snow after his boss. He was already almost as broken as he had been before Stretch had found him. It'd been a week since his boss had taken him back. He'd tried to keep up the hope that he'd get back home to his brothers. It was obvious to him that this monster did not consider him to be family.

Papyrus was walking in front of him, dragging him by the leash attached to his collar. He tried to keep up, but kept tripping, being dragged until he was able to right himself each time. He picked himself up for about the tenth time, stumbling after his boss through the snow.

"wh-where are we going?" He asked hesitantly.

"Do not speak without permission. I thought you knew that. If you must know, however, we are going back to your friends in the other 'timeline'. You keep refusing to listen to me for reasons that I assume to be related to them, so I am going to help you stop worrying about them."

Red's pupils constricted and he pulled back on the leash. "n-no, please, i-i'll be good! d-don't hurt them!"

"Too late. We're already at the portal." The taller skeleton tugged roughly on the leash, dragging the now crying Red after him.

Red tried to resist the leash, pulling back with all his might (though that wasn't much) even when he felt like his neck would snap.

"Stop it already, you useless fuck. You brought this upon yourself." Papyrus yelled, tugging more sharply on the leash.

He turned the smaller skeleton's soul blue, still holding the leash. Red floated after him, still struggling. They were nearing Snowdin.

"n-no... please..." Red begged.

"Too late." Papyrus snarled, yanking mercilessly on the leash.

Red gave a strangled yelp, whimpering more. He immediately shut up as he saw a familiar figure.

Stretch's back was to them, and he didn't seem to have noticed them.

" **s** **-stre-** " Red tried.

He was cut off as his boss tugged viciously on the leash once more. The strangled yelp wasn't enough to get Stetch's attention. He seemed deep in thought.

Red wasn't about to give up. He struggled even more, and yelled as loud as he could. " **STRETCH!** "

The orange-clad skeleton turned quickly and saw Papyrus yank on Red's leash. The latter let out a whimper.

"red!" Stretch gasped. He glanced at Papyrus. " **you.** "

Papyrus smiled evilly.

" **s-stretch! g-get out of here! h-h-he's g-going to-!** " He was cut off as Papyrus yanked on the leash again.

Stretch didn't seem to have any intention to listen to him, and his eye began glowing a fierce orange. He summoned a gaster blaster and pointed it at Papyrus. He was about to fire when there was a voice behind him. Red looked towards it.

"PAPYRUS? WHAT'S GOING O- RED!"

His breath caught in his throat. "b-blue," he whispered.

No. They couldn't both be here. They needed to leave. Red's breathing quickened. He couldn't lose them. He couldn't. He just-

"ack!" he was slammed against a tree, hard.

There was a sickening crack and for a second, he couldn't feel anything, but then a searing pain shot through his skull. He crumpled to the snowy ground and lay there, unmoving.

"Be quiet." The taller skeleton snapped.

Blue covered his mouth with his hands, tears threatening to fall from his eye sockets. Stretch, seeing this reaction, turned back towards Papyrus. Right as he turned, he saw a flurry of bone attacks aimed straight at him, and a gaster blaster behind them, ready to fire. He had no time to think about it.

Red, who was watching from the base of the tree, whimpered. "s-stretch... no..." he was helpless to do anything but watch.

"P-PAPYRUS!!!" Blue yelled desparately.

Stretch attempted dodge the bones, a few grazing his sweatshirt. Blue jumped into the fray, trying to get to his brother. He sidestepped a bone, ducking down so another that came soon after missed him. He had almost reached Stretch when he felt his soul leave his body. Looking down, he saw the inverted heart in front of his ribcage, now a deep shade of blue. His gravity changed and he was sent hurtling towards a tree. He quickly tried to right himself, moving so his feet would hit the tree first. The speed with which he was falling increased, and he smashed into it. His soul was dropped, and he fell to the ground. His feet hurt from the impact, but he tried to get up nonetheless.

Stretch saw his brother hit the tree and winced. He couldn't get there to help. The slight distraction was just enough for his adversary to send a bone flying towards him. It hit Stretch before he had time to react, impaling him through the ribcage.

_**-1.** _

He didn't seem to register it at first, and the look of a confused child flashed across his face. He staggered for a moment, before collapsing, wordless.

Red watched in horror. "n-no..."

Blue stared. He shoved himself off the ground, ignoring the pain in his legs, and made his way over to his fallen brother. Papyrus watched, smirking. The blue-clad monster fell to his knees by the taller skeleton's side. Stretch slowly turned to dust, which blew away on the wind until there wasn't any left. Blue gripped the orange hoodie and buried his face in it, crying.

"P...papyrus.... no..." he whimpered, his voice being shaken by heaving sobs.

The other Papyrus chuckled. He grabbed the shuddering skeleton by his soul again, and lifted him up.

Red closed his eyes tight, curling into himself. _No, no, no, no, no. He_ _can't_ _be gone, he can't..._ he sobbed into his jacket. Hearing a loud scream of pain, he looked up. Papyrus was holding Blue up by his soul, and had stabbed a sharp bone attack into his eye socket. Bone marrow was flowing freely from the wound, mixing with the tears falling.

Instead of pulling the bone out, Papyrus dragged it down, cutting into Blue's skull. Blue screamed again.

"b-boss, p-please," Red choked out. "s-stop hurting h-him..."

Somehow, Papyrus heard him over Blue's screaming. "Okay, pet. I won't hurt him anymore." He summoned a large bone attack, dropping Blue to the ground. He stepped on the smaller skeleton's rib cage, raising the bone above his head.

Red realized what he was about to do. " **n-no!** "

Papyrus grinned. Without any hesitation, he brought the bone down, stabbing it into Blue's skull The smaller skeleton screamed once again. It was cut off as he disintegrated, disappearing with no trace other than his blue scarf, stained with his bone marrow.

Red felt tears come to his eyes. "w-why...?"

Papyrus turned to him. Grabbing the leash with his blue magic, he pulled it over to himself, dragging Red with it. Red didn't move an inch, staying completely limp.

"Are you going to keep disobeying me?" Papyrus demanded, grabbing the bottom of Red's soul.

Red didn't respond.

"Well?" Papyrus yanked the leash again.

Red said nothing.

"You will answer me when I ask you a question." Papyrus yelled, not bothering to hide the fury in his voice.

Red flinched, but still didn't make a sound. Papyrus yanked the leash again, harder than ever. The smaller skeleton was still silent. Papyrus grabbed him by the soul, letting him hang in mid-air. Red stayed limp.

"You useless piece of shit!" He slammed Red against a tree. "You **will** obey me."

Red said nothing. Papyrus kept yelling, but he had stopped listening. The taller skeleton failed to notice the red flames that were forming, slipping out of the smaller's eye. Papyrus slammed the other skeleton against a tree.

Instead of collapsing against the tree when he was dropped, Red landed lightly on his feet with his head down and his fists clenched. Reaching up to his neck, he unbuckled the collar and cast it away from him.

He looked up at Papyrus, who could now see the scarlet magic overflowing in his socket. He suddenly felt his feet leave the ground.

"Sans... what the fuck do you think you're doing?" He snapped.

  
Red said nothing as he summoned a volley of bones and sent them straight at his soul.

Papyrus tried to move, but Red's blue magic was too strong. That was strange. He didn't have any time to think before the bones hit him.

Red watched his attacks slam into Papyrus. He was too filled with anger and sorrow to really know what he was doing. He just wanted Papyrus **gone**. He let his anger overwhelm him, sending attack after attack at Papyrus. One attack hit him square in the neck. Though it only took one damage, the force of the attack was enough to snap the other skeleton's neck. Red dropped his soul and let him fall to the ground. There were two separate thumps as his body landed, followed by his head which had completely fallen off.

Without hesitation, Red brought his hand up, sending two bones up from the ground, one stabbing Papyrus's soul, the other impaling his body. He left both bones there until the last of the other skeleton's HP drained and he turned to dust.

Red dropped his hand and walked a short ways to where Papyrus's hoodie was. Right next to it was Blue's scarf. He picked both up and buried his face in them, not bothering to stop his tears.

"s-s-stretch... b-blue..." he whimpered.

Collapsing, he curled up, hugging both pieces of fabric tightly. He sobbed into them, barely getting enough air.

"w-why...?"

His weeping slowly died down as he fell unconscious.

\- - -

He woke up on a cold floor. He could feel that there was a collar tight around his neck, and his wrists were shackled. He shivered. _Where were his clothes?_ There was the sound of a door opening, and a freezing gust of wind blew into the room. Red didn't make a sound.

Footsteps entered the room and he could see a pair of boots come into view.

"He's awake." A voice said from the door.

"Hm... sit up." The person in front of him ordered.

Red did so. It wasn't as if he could do much else. The monster walked behind him and undid the shackles from the wall.

"Stand."

Red did so.

The monster walked around him, examining him as if he were some animal. He _really_ wished he had clothes. He kept his eyes down. He wasn't sure he wanted to see who this person was. The voice was kind of familiar.

"Look at me."

 _Oh no._ Slowly, he raised his head. This person looked kind of like... _Blue?_

"I am the great and terrible Sans, head of the royal guard. But... to you... I'm _master._ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heheheh  
> I hope you enjoyed.  
> See you in the next chapter.
> 
> I am a terrible person.


	4. IV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy the chapter! This one picks up right at the end of chapter 2.

 

Papyrus drew in a shaky breath and looked up. "y-you're... n...not?"

Sans shook his head.

The room was silent for a bit. Papyrus was a mixture of confused, relieved, and worried at the same time, but he held his tongue. He soon noticed that both of the healthier skeletons were staring at him. He trembled and curled up a bit more.

Sans noticed this. "kiddo, it's okay, calm down. what's wrong?"

Papyrus shook his head. "n-nothing, m'lord..." he stuttered.

Sans was a bit taken aback by this answer. "...why did you call me that?"

Papyrus tensed up. "b-because you t-told me to..." he trailed off, then looked up at Sans. "...m-m'lord?"

"sans." The shorter skeleton said. "just call me sans, okay buddy?"

"y-yes m'lor- ... sans...?" The name felt funny. It felt like when one is a younger child uttering a curse word for the first time, as if it was forbidden to say.

The room lapsed into an uncomfortable silence, until the skeleton in the kitchen spoke. "Anyways... I've decided not to make the spaghetti... we're out of tomatoes. Sans, do you have any ideas for what to eat?"

"grillby's!" Sans answered without even thinking.

The other skeleton made a disgusted face. "Fine. Just this once though. You know I've been trying to get you to stop eating that greasy food. Oh, and while you're there, would you please just pay your tab? Grillby's been getting a bit angry over it."

"awww, c'mon, bro. he's not really mad. he's actually a pretty _cool gu_ y, despite, y'know... being made of fire."

"What am I going to do with you?" He facepalmed.

Sans shrugged, before disappearing in a flash of blue magic. When he was gone, Papyrus looked towards the other him, who was still cowering on the couch. Slowly, he left the kitchen and approached, careful not to scare the other skeleton. Sitting on the couch, he looked around the room in silence for a bit before glancing at the other him.

"So.... we're both Papyrus, right?"

"y-yes, sir."

"Um... just call me Russel... I've been thinking about a name to use anyways, because we'll end up getting confused if we're both Papyrus."

"o-okay..."

The newly dubbed Russel shifted into a more comfortable position, causing Papyrus to flinch.

"I know I already asked, but... are you okay?"

He said it with such genuine concern... Papyrus couldn't recall the last time someone, anyone, had legitimately cared about him. It felt... good? He wasn't used to this kindness. Papyrus felt tears come to his eyes.

"Oh, no! Did I say something wrong?!" Russel questioned worriedly upon noticing this.

"n-no! i... i-i'm just.... n-n-not used to p-people being th-this nice t-to me..."

Russel was perturbed by this answer. Asking about someone's well-being was a common practice as far as he knew. Not many monsters would even hesitate to inquire about whether another was okay, especially one as broken as this.

"O-oh..." his voice trailed off. 

He slowly reached towards the other, careful not to scare him, and pulled him into an embrace. Though the other flinched, he did not object to the hug. Papyrus felt the same warm, safe feeling from before, and melted into Russel's arms, sobbing for a reason he couldn't quite place.

Slowly, he fell asleep.

Russel watched the broken monster's chest rise and fall, happy that he had helped the frail creature, as small as the act had been. 

Suddenly, there was a flash of blue and Sans appeared in the doorway. "i got the grub!!" He half-shouted before Russel could warn him to be quiet.

The monster in his arms woke with a start, breathing in a heavy, panicked manner. "i-i-i'm s-sorry, i-i'm sorry! p-p-please d-don't p-punish m-me..." He curled up, gasping for air and shuddering.

Russel quickly tried to comfort the other, rubbing circles into the terrified skeleton's back, hoping to calm him down. It worked to some extent, as the other relaxed a bit, but he was still trembling and sobbing.

Russel looked towards Sans. "Sans, he was asleep!" he scolded accusingly.

"oh... shit... sorry," Sans apologized with a guilty expression on his face.

"Language." Russel chided, before looking down at Papyrus. "You okay now?" 

The weaker skeleton nodded, though he was still shaking. "y-yeah..."

Sans walked further into the room, holding up a few styrofoam takeout boxes. "um... i got the food." 

Russel and Papyrus both looked at him, the latter a bit warily. Russel nodded and stood up, helping Papyrus up in the process. Putting an arm around the other to support him, Russel walked to the kitchen.

"i-i can w-walk myself..." Papyrus protested, before tripping over his feet and falling to have Russel catch him.

"Yeah, no." Russel disagreed. 

\- - -

**meanwhile, in swapfell. . .**

Red stumbled behind his new master, the other skeleton's pace becoming harder and harder to keep up with. Luckily, he'd been allowed to keep his shorts and jacket, but they did little against the wind. His shirt and shoes hadn't been given back to him.

...It'd been two weeks since his two best friends had died. Two weeks since he'd had any kind of hope. Two weeks since he'd felt any kind of warmth. Two weeks since he'd spoken. His master probably didn't know he could talk... hell, the guy didn't even regard him as a living being. Just a tool... a pet... and worse, a toy. 

He was too deep in thought to realize that he tripped. He didn't notice until his leash was pulled viciously and he was yanked off the ground to slam against the wall of his master's house. The leash was quickly pulled back and he was sent flying towards the other skeleton, who caught him by the neck. He was held in a vice grip, his feet hanging off the ground. He let out a yelp, but didn't say anything. 

"Useless mutt." The other hissed, throwing him to the ground.

He landed with a whimper, the impact jarring his numb bones. He shivered. The leash was pulled again, none too gently, and he stayed limp as his master tied the short rope around a ring on the side of the house. He then walked away, towards the door of the house.

Red shivered, curling in on himself in a vain attempt to protect himself from the cold. The lights in nearby buildings were turning off one by one, and soon the street lamps went out too, leaving him in almost complete darkness. He curled up more, so tightly in fact that his frail ribs were almost at their breaking point. The cold clung to his bare ribs and his spine below where his jacket had been ripped. It crept up his arms and legs, made him feel like he was covered in bruises.  

The snow under him melted from his scant body heat, and soaked him through. He shivered violently. Every single night had been like this. He'd only seen the inside of the house a few times, and that was when... He winced at the memories, tears pricking in his eye sockets. His master had  _used_ him, and then just thrown him back outside, attaching him to his leash and leaving him there, broken.

Red tucked his head in by his knees and shuddered, the tears in his eye sockets flowing freely now.  After hours of shivering and vainly trying to keep warm, he heard footsteps approaching him, crunching in the snow. He shied away from them. 

A voice came from the direction of the noise, startling him and causing him to flinch. "Hello?" The voice was female, he could tell that much. High pitched, but not so much that it was annoying.

Red didn't respond verbally, but he sat up as far as the leash would let him and looked up. A figure was slowly moving towards him. He froze, before quickly moving away, flattening himself against the wall. 

\- - -

Muffet was worried. Not really because Papyrus hadn't showed up at her restaurant, as she knew full well that he was strictly forbidden to come near the place anymore, but because she hadn't seen him around town. Not for three weeks. No yelling came from the doorway of his 'brother's' house because he had been home late. No whimpers and desperate apologies. She'd overheard a conversation between the regulars the day before:

_"'You seen the captain's new pet?" one asked._

_"Yeah... wonder what happened to the old 'un. Probably dusted, bein' the weakling 'e was, but I can't help but wonder." another answered._

_"Yeah... I actually almost feel bad for the new one. Saw it the other day. It's in a bad way." the first said, nodding._

_A third joined the conversation. "Aye. I saw it last night. 'e makes it sleep chained up outside. A wonder it 'asn't died yet. . ."_

Muffet had stopped listening at that point.

Now, as she was walking towards the skeleton's household, she hoped she could trust the information she had. She neared the house and tried to see if there was anyone near it. Whatever Sans's new pet was, she would probably have to be wary around it. A quiet whimper and the sound of someone moving startled her. She moved towards the noise.  

A shape was huddled in the snow. It was small, thin, and frail-looking. It shivered, wrapping what looked like rags around itself trying to keep warm. 

"Hello?" she stared at it, hoping for an answer.

The creature sat up until it reached the end of its short leash, which was tethered to a ring on the wall. It looked up at her. She slowly stepped forward. The shape flinched and drew back, flattening itself against the wall. 

"I'm not going to hurt you." she reassured. 

It looked up again. The faint glow of the crystals on the ceiling gave her a view of its face. It looked uncannily like Sans. She drew back a bit, before realizing how small this skeleton was. He had more cracks in his skull than the Sans she knew, and was covered head to toe in fractures and cuts. 

One hand automatically went to her mouth, while the other five turned into fists. She was filled with anger at Sans. The broken skeleton moved as far away from her as the chain would allow -which wasn't very far- upon seeing this reaction. It whimpered, putting its arms out in front of it in a protective manner. 

"Hey, calm down, it's okay!" She said, unsure of what to do.

It looked up again. 

"Um... can you talk?"

It nodded.

"Will you?"

It shrugged. A popping noise could be heard from its shoulder when it did so, and it curled up, whimpering and clutching at its arm. She moved towards it and placed a hand on its arm. It went stiff, then relaxed, a helpless, terrified expression on its face. 

"p....p-please.... don't...." It choked out, voice rough from disuse.

She let go quickly, but it didn't move.

"Do you have a name?" She asked, hoping she could get it to respond again. 

It nodded.

"What is it?"

"s. . . .an. . ." it cut itself off. ". . .r. . .re. . .d"

"Red?" 

It nodded.

She was about to speak again when it broke in. "w-who... a-are yo-" it cut itself off with a coughing fit, making Muffet wince. "you...?"

"I'm Muffet... um... is it okay for me to ask what your pronouns are...?"

The small skeleton chuckled. It was a sharp, mirthless thing, the laugh. It ended with a violent cough.

"d-doesn't really... m-m-matter... u-u-used t-to be 'he' b-but now i guess i'm 'it'." he answered quietly.

"Does Sans know you can talk?" she asked.

He shook his head. 

"Have you tried running away?"

Another shake of his skull.

"Why?"

"h...he'd f-find me..." The shivering skeleton stuttered. "i... d-deserve this."

Muffet was taken aback. "Why under earth would you say that!? No one deserves this!"

"m... my best f-friends... both of th-them d... died... it's my fault they d-died... m-my brother... k-killed them. i-i did n-n-nothing!" his voice wavered. "i-i l-let them die and i-" He felt six arms wrap themselves around him, pulling him into a hug. 

He relaxed a bit, tears falling down his face.

The door to the house opened. 

Red noticed first, and shoved the spider off him,  the cold on his bones returning immediately as her warmth left him. "r-run!" he yelled as best as he could. The skeleton in the doorway watched Muffet scramble to get up. 

Sans summoned a sharp bone in the ground under her. He brought it up quickly, and it impaled her. 

Red whimpered. "no... no, n-no, no, no!" he sobbed quietly, flinching as he heard her dust.

"So you _can_ talk, pet. You'll regret not telling me sooner." He approached Red and picked him up by his soul. 

Red struggled, his eyes scrunched shut, fists clenched. Sans summoned a bone and when Red looked up to see what it was, he took hold of the smaller skeleton's head and raised the bone high. Red's pupils constricted to tiny pinpricks, and he went stiff. Without hesitation, Sans stabbed the bone into Red's eye socket.

Red screamed. Sans grinned wickedly and dropped him into the snow, where he curled up into a ball, groping at his eye socket. Bone marrow flowed from it in steady streams, staining the snow red. The small skeleton shuddered, whimpering.

"Get up." Sans hissed.

Red didn't move. That earned him a vicious kick to the ribs. 

"Get. Up." Sans repeated.

This time, Red pushed himself up onto his knees and forced himself to stand up. His exhausted bones screamed in protest, but he ignored them. As much as he thought he deserved it, he still didn't want the pain.

Sans moved closer to him and held up a spiked collar... spiked on both sides. Red flinched at the sight of it. 

"Don't move." Sans ordered, taking the old collar off.

Red took the chance. He darted off in the opposite direction, hoping to escape. ...only to have his soul turned blue and to be carried back to his master.  

"Never. Ever. Run away from me." Sans threatened, his eye glowing a deep purple.

Red whimpered and looked down, not wanting to meet the other skeleton's eyes. He didn't move as Sans fastened the new collar around his neck, tightening it so the spikes on the inside drove into his neck. 

Red felt an immediate damper of his magic. His eye sockets widened.

"Got this from Undyne. It lets me tap into your magic, punish you from a distance, and if I want... _control you."_ Sans smiled cruelly. "I was going to wait until tomorrow, but you need a punishment, so here we are."

Red whimpered. _no... he's bluffing..._

A spike of pain shot from the collar and ripped through his body. "No, I'm not." Sans sneered. 

Red froze up. _no. no, no, no, no, nonononononono-_

"Shut the fuck up." Sans kicked his shins, causing him to fall. "Pets don't need to think. The only thing you ever need to say is 'Yes, master'. understand!?"

Red nodded, but got a kick to the ribs. 

"Say it." another spike of pain ripped through him.

 _No,_ he thought. The pain came back, worse this time. 

" **Say it.** " 

He whimpered. _No._

The pain came again, but didn't die down. If anything, it got worse, now so unbearable that he couldn't stay quiet anymore. He screamed, writhing in agony.

"You'll say it eventually. All I have to do is wait." Sans chuckled and walked away to attend his guard duties.

The pain didn't stop until evening, when Sans walked back towards him, a grin on his face. He looked down at the violently shaking, pitiful skeleton at his feet. The pain stopped and Red went limp, before pushing himself up with trembling arms to look at Sans. His eyelights were gone, and he had a completely hopeless look on his face. 

"Well?" 

"Y..-" he was cut off as the world disappeared, and reappeared again. It was dark. The spiked collar was gone from around his neck, replaced with the one from the day before. 

There was no trace of the pain, but he felt cold. His bones felt completely frozen again. Footsteps approached him, and a voice said "Hello?"

 _Wait... Muffet!?_ Red was confused.

She needed to get out of there. "m...m-muffet...?"

"You know me?"

"y...y-you n...eed t-to get... out of h...ere." He broke off into a coughing fit.

"How do you know me?"

"y...ou w-wouldn't b-beli...eve m-me. just... g-get out of he...re..."

"Do you know Papyrus?" the voice sounded hopeful.

"n-not.... th-the o-one h-here."

"What does that mean?" She faltered a bit.

"nothi...ing. j-just- ...g-get out of h-here..." She was running out of time.

"Why...?"She started at the sound of the door opening. 

"r-run!" He urged her.

A figure stepped out of the door. She tried to dash away. Red closed his eyes and flinched as he heard the same dusting sound as before. 

The world faltered again, and he was back where he had been. It hadn't been as long this time.

The footsteps approached him again. 

"Hello?"

He shakily got up onto all fours. Instead of saying anything, he growled at her, trying to sound as feral as possible. 

"I'm not going to hurt you!"

He lunged at her, as if trying to attack her, but was stopped by the leash. He let out a sharp whimper as the short length of rope went taut and yanked him backwards. Luckily, it was enough to scare her, as she yelped and scrambled backwards, away from him. She ran away soon after, and Red was relieved. She wouldn't have to die this time. 

The door opened after a few seconds, sooner than the other times. 

Sans stepped out, looking angry. He aimed a kick at Red's ribs, and the smaller let out a pained yelp at the impact.

"Quiet, mutt." Sans hissed, before walking back inside. 

Red curled up, shivering from the freezing snow and the ice clinging to his bones. He felt tears coming to his eyes, and sobbed silently into his arms. The world hiccuped again and there he was, still in the snow. The footsteps approached him once more.

He did the same thing, not wanting to mess up the ending from last time. It didn't replay again after that.

Sans came back out a few minutes later, now fully clad in his armor. He untied Red's leash and half-dragged him towards town. Red hardly resisted, stumbling numbly after him, each step paining his frozen limbs. Sans kept walking when they reached the edge of town, walking his pet out to Papyrus's old sentry post. 

 

Red hadn't been here before. 

 

Sans threw him against the station and tied his leash to it, before walking off. "You'd better not fall asleep."

 

Red scanned his surroundings. A huge tree was down right next to it, he'd already noticed that. Blood stains dotted the snow, some older than others. Small patches of dust were littered among them. Under the tree was the largest of the stains. Something glinted under a larger patch of dust, and Red stared at it for a moment, before reaching towards it, straining against the leash to get closer. The collar around his neck pulled against it, and he whimpered at the pain. He was finally able to grab the object. He pulled it closer to get a better look. It was a collar. The buckle on it must have been what glinted. 

 

It was pretty much the same as the one wrapped tightly around his own cervical vertebrae, save for the fact that it had seen more wear and tear, and had old bone marrow stains on it. He noticed writing on the inside of the dusty object:

  
**Property of the great and terrible Sans.**  
**If interested in purchase, pay 340 g.**

He cringed. Was there a message like this on the inside of his own collar? He hoped not, although there was really no reason for there not to be. At least now he knew what had become of Sans's brother. 

\- - -

Chara watched the goat monster walk down the hall, glad that the threat was over. Temmie smiled at them from in the bag at their side. "We finally got past him!" 

 

Chara nodded. "I died three times, though."

 

"Whatever. Let's head to Snowdin. You're gonna want that jacket Asgore gave you." the small mammal advised.

 

Chara nodded, untying the jacket from around their waist and slipping it on. 

 

They walked through the doorway, into the unknown. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you're enjoying the story so far!


	5. V

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy the chapter!

"Yeah, no." Russel disagreed.

He left Papyrus where he could lean against the wall, and opened the paper bag, which Sans had set on the table. The shorter skeleton was grabbing three plates from out of a cupboard. He walked over and set them down, before watching Russel set a burger on each of the plates. Russel himself had a rather disgusted look on his face. 

"Sans,  _why_ do you like greasy food? The grease gets  _everywhere_!" He looked at his hands, which were covered in it. 

"it tastes good."

"No, it doesn't." Russel contradicted.

Nevertheless, he pulled up a chair and sat down in front of one of the plates. Sans chuckled and sat down next to him. Both looked over towards Papyrus, who looked down upon making eye contact with them.

"Come eat, Papyrus." Russel smiled, gesturing at the third plate.

Papyrus slowly walked towards the table, but instead of sitting in the extra chair, he sat on the ground next to Sans's chair.

Sans stared at him a moment with a puzzled expression. "kiddo, you don't have to sit on the floor." He frowned, confused.

Papyrus saw Sans's face and took it to be disappointment. "s-s-sorry! p-please don't be m-mad, i-i ju-just-!" He curled up, cowering on the floor.

"woah, kiddo, 's okay! calm down!"

The sound of his voice only served to make Papyrus freak out more, and he buried his head in his arms, blocking his face.

"i-i'm s-sorry! i w-won't do it a-again! p-please d-don't p-p-punish..." His words lapsed into panicked sobs.

Russel stood up and walked towards him. Picking him up, he walked over to his seat and gently set the trembling skeleton in the chair next to it. 

"Papyrus, it's okay. No one's mad at you."

Papyrus looked up at him, not saying anything. Tears streamed from his eye sockets.

Russel pulled him into a hug, patting his back. "It's okay. You're safe... I promise."

"th-thank you..." Papyrus half-whispered.

Russel pulled away from the hug. "You okay now?"

Papyrus nodded. 

"Good. Can you eat something? Your magic levels are really low... You need to heal."

Papyrus nodded again, but didn't make a move towards the food on his plate, instead just staring at it.

"never seen a burger before, kid?" Sans asked somewhat hesitantly, not wanting to startle him.

Papyrus flinched, before shaking his head. 

"i-i n-never e-eat anything b-besides what m-m'lord gives me."

"uhhh... if i may ask... what is that?"

"i-i d-don't know... last time it was..." His face scrunched up in concentration as he tried to remember when and what he'd last eaten. "i-i'm sorry, i d-don't  remember... m-maybe... d-dog food? i-i-it was t-too long ago..."

Both Sans's and Russel's faces were aghast, and they glanced at each other worriedly.

"...when was that?" Sans asked quietly, trying not to sound as angry as he was.

"t-two, no.... th-three weeks ago..." Papyrus answered slowly.

Sans's eye flashed an angry blue. "i need to go outside." He excused himself, and disappeared.

Papyrus looked at Russel. "i-is he m-mad...?" he asked in a small voice.

"Yes... but not at you. I think he's mad at your brother."

"w-why?"

"Because it's not right!" Papyrus answered quickly. "He shouldn't treat anyone like that! Let alone his own brother!" the anger in his tone made Papyrus flinch and tremble a little.

"...h-he's n-not my brother.... h-he always s-says that... that t-trash like me d-d-doesn't deserve to be his b-brother..." Papyrus looked down at his lap, not wanting to make eye contact with Russel.

"That's even worse!" Russel cried.

"i-it's not th-that b-bad... i d-deserve it, a-anyways."

"Why would you say a thing like that! Of course you don't deserve it!" The anger in his voice was showing through more now. 

"b-but-"

"No buts. You don't deserve it, okay? Never tell yourself that."

Papyrus nodded silently.

Russel smiled at him reassuringly. "Don't worry about it now, though. The only thing you need to focus on is getting better."

Papyrus gave another nod of his head, now looking at the burger again. "h-h-how d-do i...?"

Russel tilted his head to the side. "What do you- Oh! It's like this." He picked up the burger and took a bite of it, demonstrating the action to Papyrus.

Papyrus picked it up, before taking  hesitant bite out of it. His eyes lit up.

Russel grinned, glad to have a happier topic to talk about. "Like it?" 

Papyrus nodded, half smiling.  He slowly took another bite out of it, savoring what was, to him, the most delicious thing that ever existed.

After he finished, Russel took his plate and washed it. He sat there uncomfortably, not used to having things done for him.

"We'll have to do something about where you're sleeping." The healthier skeleton said, walking into the living room. "You can't just sleep on the couch all the time."

"i-i can sleep on the f-floor..." Papyrus said quietly. 

"No, no, no! That's not what I meant! I mean that you should probably sleep on a bed, and not that lumpy couch. You don't have to sleep on the floor!" Russel shook his head, rather surprised.

"o-oh... s-s-sorry... i-i'm just used t-to th-the floor, and i d-didn't know if-" He noticed the rather shocked expression on Russel's face at his words, and flinched. "s-sorry! i w-won't m-make e-e-excuses again! p-p-please don't be m-mad!" he half-sobbed, still unused to the idea that he was safe.

"Hey, it's okay! I'm not mad, don't worry!" Russel approached the trembling monster and pulled him into another hug. 

Though Papyrus flinched at the contact, he soon felt the warmth of the comforting embrace, and relaxed for the most part. He found his eyelids becoming heavy, and fell into an exhausted sleep. Russel smiled, rubbing the skeleton's back gently. The unconscious skeleton unknowingly curled closer to the source of warmth. 

Russel stood and carried him over to the couch. Gently, he tried to set the slumbering skeleton down, only to have him cling to his shoulder, not letting himself be left alone. Russel tried to pry the kid off him, but the whimpers that came from the sleeping form after he finally managed it guilt-tripped him into picking the broken skeleton up again. He sighed and walked towards the stairs to take the monster to his room. 

He didn't really mind sharing his bed, and if Papyrus refused to let go of him, he supposed it was all he could do. He slowly dozed off. The door of his room quietly opening a few minutes later woke him again, and he turned his head to look in the direction of the doorway. 

"paps? ya here?" The small silhouette standing in the light cast from outside the room called.

"Hey, sans." Russel answered softly. 

"where's the kiddo?" Sans asked.

"Right here. He wouldn't let go of me."

"huh. i didn't mark him as the clingy sort."

Russel shrugged, glancing down at the smaller skeleton curled up next to him.

"...Sans?"

"yeah, bro?"

"...Can we keep him?"

"uhhhh bro, he's not a dog."

"I know that, Sans. I just.... He's so hurt... I don't want him to go back to where he came from. And if he has nowhere else to go..."

Sans nodded. "that's somethin' i agree with." the room was silent for a moment. "well, g'night. bro."

"Goodnight, brother."

The door closed.

Russel awoke to the skeleton in his arms whimpering and almost hyperventilating. Tears were falling down his face. He quickly hugged the other close and rubbed his back. Papyrus flinched away from the touch and fell off of the bed, curling into a ball and trying to block himself off using his good arm.

"m-m-m'lord, i'm s-sorry! please don't-" His voice was cut off as he gasped for breath, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Papyrus, calm down!" Russel moved towards the panicking skeleton. "It's okay! You're safe!" He reached him and grabbed his shoulders, shaking him in an attempt to wake him. "Papyrus!"

Papyrus's eyes shot open, and he curled up into an even smaller ball, not registering his surroundings.

"m-m'lord!! i-i-i d-didn't m-mean to wake you up, p-p-please d-don't-"

Russel pulled him into a hug. "Shhhh. Calm down, Papyrus. You're safe. He's not here."

Papyrus relaxed upon hearing his voice. He buried his face in Russel's shirt, sobbing brokenly into the other's shirt. Russel rubbed his back comfortingly. 

He pulled back from the hug and looked at Papyrus. "Are you okay now?"

"y-yeah..." Papyrus answered quietly. "th-thank you..." he said after a short pause. 

"Well, I'm going to head downstairs and make breakfast. Care to join me?"

Papyrus nodded tentatively. He stood and shakily followed Russel out the door, trying not to lose his balance. He had just reached the bottom of the stairs when his limbs decided to give out on him and he stumbled. He would have hit the ground had Russel not caught him and gently picked him up.

He carried the weaker skeleton into the kitchen. "Can you walk now?" Russel asked, setting him down. 

"y-yeah... sorry..."

"Don't worry about it."

Russel reached towards a box-like contraption that sat on the counter. 

"wh-what's that?" Papyrus asked quietly, not used to being allowed to talk whenever he wanted.

"It's a radio." Russel pushed a button and an unfamiliar sound came from the box.

Papyrus didn't know what the sound was, but it made him feel relaxed and happy. 

He smiled to himself. "wh-what's that sound it's making?"

"You mean the music?" Russel asked. 

"m-music?" Papyrus repeated.

"Yeah, that's what it's called." Russel answered, grabbing a long, flat pan out of a cupboard.  _How does he not know what music is?_

"o-oh..."

"I can turn it off if you don't like it."

"n-no, i like it."

"Okay. If you want me to turn it off, though, just tell me."

"o-okay." Papyrus quietly watched Russel grab a box of something out of another cupboard. 

He measured some of it into a bowl along with other ingredients he got from out of other drawers and cupboards.

"Want to mix it?" He asked, looking at Papyrus.

"s-sure..."

Papyrus took the spoon offered him and slowly mixed in the ingredients.

The song on the radio ended, and a new one started up. Russel glanced at the radio questioningly. The song was a different style than the one from before, which had had an upbeat, happy tone.  The new 'song', as Russel called it, was more laid back. It still sounded happy, but it was more relaxing. He caught onto the melody rather quickly, as it was fairly repetitive. He hummed along with it, unconsciously tapping his foot. He decided he quite liked this 'music' thing.

"i-i think this is done," he said, motioning at the batter, which was now all the way mixed in.

Russel nodded, agreeing. Papyrus went back to tapping his foot and listening to the music. 

"You really like jazz music, don't you?"

Papyrus tilted his head. "i-i dunno what you m-mean."

"That's the type of music this is. Did you notice it sounds different than the song before?"

"y-yeah... is this type called jazz then?"

"Yeah. Do you like it?"

"i-i like it a l-lot..."

"So would it be okay for me to call you Jazz?

"y-yeah, i guess." it was a thousand times better than anything his lord ever called him. "wh-why, though?"

"Same reason I asked you to call me Russel" Russel answered, pouring the batter onto the pan.

"o-oh, i guess that makes s-sense." Jazz smiled.

Russel's face lit up at that. 

\- - -

In another timeline, a tall figure walked into a house. He looked around at his new home. The childish urge to explore the place came to his mind, but he pushed it down. Walking across the living room, he reached the stairs and walked up. He opened the first door at the top and looked into the room beyond it. 

A bed sat in one corner, and another door, presumably to the closet faced him. A desk sat opposite to the entryway, and an empty bookshelf stood by the wall on the other side of the closet door. He collapsed onto the bed after realizing how tired he was. Exploring could wait. 

He woke up in the morning to light streaming in through the window. Walking out of the room, he decided to look around more. Down the hallway was another door, so he decided to check that out first. 

The room was occupied by nothing but a bare mattress and a dresser. Moving to the dresser, he opened one of the drawers. Inside, he was surprised to find a small, silver key. He picked it up and slid it into his pocket, figuring he could find what it opened later.

Leaving the room, he walked back downstairs and out the door. He needed to buy some food. As he walked towards town, he felt the urge to look back at the house, and in doing so noticed a door leading into the house from the side. It was hidden from the front by a wall. He hadn't noticed it before, and his curiosity got the better of him. 

Approaching the door, he tried the knob. It was locked, as he'd suspected.  _I wonder..._  He pulled the key out of his pocket and fitted it into the keyhole. To his delight, it fit perfectly. 

Pushing the door open, he stepped inside. There were no lights on, and it was black as pitch inside the room. He reached towards the wall beside the door, searching for a light switch. His hand came into contact with the small lever, and he flipped it up. The lights in the room flickered on, and he looked around. A counter stood off to one side, and it was covered in blueprints and hastily scribbled papers. In the far corner, some kind of large machine sat, a sheet half-way covering it, and half-way on the floor. 

He approached the counter and glanced at some of the blueprints. They had strange symbols written around the edges, 

Papers sat all over each blueprint, covered in rushed notes. These were written in english. He turned his attention away from these and towards the other papers. Some had photos taped onto them. They showed a group of people in lab coats, smiling for a picture. Two figures stood out to him, and he didn't know why. Both were skeletons. One was tall and thin, with a crack running up from his right eye, and the other was shorter, seemingly a younger teen. 

Above it was written a short note. 

_Dear future me: G is the taller skeleton._

He rose an eyebrow. That didn't make any sense. Setting the photo down and deciding he'd look at it later, he turned his attention to the wrinkled paper that had been under it. He hadn't noticed it before. Picking it up, he looked it over. It was a drawing of three figures. Whoever had drawn it wasn't very good at drawing in the first place, and on top of that it was hastily drawn with a shaky hand. It seemed to be a family of three skeletons. Two of them looked kind of like the two that had stood out to him in the photo. The other was smaller, seemingly a child. 

He was probably just mistaken but...  _was that him?_

\- - -

Red shivered, curling up in the snow. Tears pooled in his eye sockets, trailing down his face before freezing in thin streaks of bright red. They looked just like the other trails of red dripping from his face and from his broken and fractured bones.  Hearing a small gasp, he slowly lifted his head, struggling to do so as his bones were stiff and numb from the cold. He started as he saw a child walking towards him, shaking with fear or horror, he couldn't tell which. 

"H-Hello?"

The tone of their voice was much like Muffet's had been. It was soaked through with horror and pity, and had a worried edge to it.

He stared at them for a moment, unresponsive. They took a step forward and he flinched, half expecting a blow, until he realized that this wasn't his master. They were just a kid.

Wait....  _They were just a kid._

"k....k-kiddo, y-you ne...eed t-to h-h-hide..."

"Are you okay?" They asked, concern showing in their eyes.

He couldn't allow anyone else to die.

"j-just listen t-t-to me!"

They were about to respond when a sound from ahead distracted them. If it were possible, Red would've paled in terror. He panicked. This situation was horrifyingly familiar. 

"o-oh n-n-o.." he mentally cursed his stutter. "k-k-kid! h-hide behind that t-tree, quick!"

To his relief, the child didn't argue, and disappeared behind the trees, just before Sans entered the area. He walked towards Red, a sadistic grin covering his face. Pulling something out of his pocket, he untied and grabbed Red's leash and dragged the frail skeleton towards him. Red soon made out that the 'something' he pulled out of his pocket was a collar. 

"I've got something for you, pet." Sans sneered.

He picked Red up by his soul and roughly pulled his older collar off, replacing it none too gently with the new, spiked one. Red whimpered as it was pulled tightly around his neck, the inside spikes digging into his neck painfully.

He felt the same damper on his magic as before and whimpered.  _Not again..._

"So you  _can_  think...."

_No...._

"You'll regret keeping that from me."

The pain from before ripped through his body, and he was scarcely able to keep himself from screaming. The feeling stopped, and Red lay limply on the ground.

"That worked better than expected... let's try something else out, shall we?"

Red felt something inside his soul freeze up, and he found that he couldn't move. He panicked. Feeling the terrified pounding of Red's soul, Sans grinned sadistically. Against his will, Red began to crawl on all fours behind Sans, who had begun to walk away. 

He unwittingly tried to resist the magic forcing him to move, but was greeted with a sharp pain upon doing so. 

"No."

He felt the magic holding his soul be released, and he immediately collapsed as the pain picked up again. Sans watched him writhing in the snow, struggling not to whimper.

"Looks like you need a lesson in obedience. If I tell you to do something, you do it. If I  _force_ you to do something, you do not fight me. Understand?" 

Red nodded weakly.

"Say it aloud."

"y-y-yes, m-m-m-master." He hung his head shamefully.

"Good."

Red felt tears pouring out of his eye sockets as his soul was taken hold of again. He continued crawling behind Sans.

Red found himself thinking about Stretch.  _No, no, no, don't think about him, think about something else!_

It didn't work. All he could think was that he missed Stretch...and Blue. 

"Who are Stretch and Blue?"

The question was harmless enough, but the evil glint in Sans's eye socket gave Red an uneasy feeling.

Red tried to struggle as Sans's magic found its way into his memories.

"Hmmm....  They were really important to you, huh?"

Red nodded absentmindedly, before realizing who he was talking to, and whimpering. 

"Quiet." he paused for a moment, "Now. If you listen to me, we won't have a problem. But if you are not obedient then I may just have to take your memories away. We wouldn't want that, would we?"

\- - -

They reached the house, but instead of chaining Red outside like usual, Sans dragged Red  inside the house.

_Wait.. he only lets me inside when- NO. NONONONONONONO!!!!_

Red struggled desperately.

"Do not be insubordinate."

Red didn't hear him, and kept struggling. Sans growled and kicked Red's ribs viciously.

"Shut up. You know the punishment for that."

Red yelped, terrified. "n-n-n-n-no!!! p-please!"

Already, he felt his master's magic reaching into his mind. 

_I don't wanna forget stretch. I DON'T WANNA TO FORGET STRETCH. I DON'T WANNA FORGET- ...who now?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ya like Jazz?


	6. VI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! As always, enjoy the chapter!

 

\- -previously- -

_Picking it up, he looked it over. It was a drawing of three figures. Whoever had drawn it wasn't very good at drawing in the first place, and on top of that it was hastily drawn with a shaky hand. It seemed to be a family of three skeletons. Two of them looked kind of like the two that had stood out to him in the photo. The other was smaller, seemingly a child._

_He was probably just mistaken but... was that him?_

\- - -

 

He set the drawing down. He could look at it closer later. His attention was caught by a drawer next to him. He grabbed the handle and pulled it open. It held a mess of papers, all of which were covered in writing, presumably notes. Pictures of the shorter and taller skeleton from before lay mixed into the mess. The more pictures he saw of the two, the more he was convinced that he knew them from somewhere. He searched through the drawer, stacking notes in a neat pile and stacking any pictures he found in another. 

  
He had reached the bottom of the drawer when he noticed a slip of paper wedged in the back of it, pressed against the side. He pulled it out of the drawer. It was covered in writing. He flipped it over to see another picture of the two skeletons, but this time there was a third. A smaller skeleton, probably a child, was sitting on the shoulders of the teenager. There was no doubt this time. That was definitely him.

He tried to think back into his childhood and remember the two for the umpteenth time, but still couldn't. He sighed. Flipping the picture back over, he read the writing on the back.

_**"Hey, g. i'm sorry about what happened. i didn't mean for any of this, didn't mean for you to fall. i don't know if you'll ever see this, or if you're even still alive. i just want to tell you what's happening. i'm forgetting. no reason to sugarcoat that. everything you taught me, all of my memories of you... i've already forgotten some. soon enough, i'll be just like everyone else, unaware that you ever existed. i've already forgotten how to read wingdings. by the time i realized it, it was too late. i translated all i could of your blueprints and documents, but i lost most of it. i shouldve made a chart. i'm trying to preserve what knowledge i can, but with how things are with my brother, i don't have much time to work on anything. im forgeting alot. even now i find that I cant remember much at all about you. papyrus already forgot. its hapened so fast. ive ben riting this leter over a few days and i alredy know that soon i will barley be able to reed or rite. even now i have troble tryng to rite. im so scared. im forgeting evrything. im s** _ _**orry .** _

**_....dad_ **

**_-sans"_ **

He took in this new information. So the smaller skeleton's name was Sans? This 'G' person was his father... He could only guess that the smaller skeleton in the drawing was the brother he'd mentioned in the note.

_Wait... does that mean he was my brother? I don't remember..._

Papyrus shook his head. _So the 'G' person is my father? What happened to him? What happened to Sans?_

He regarded the picture for a moment more, before setting it down on the counter and picking up the stack of notes. He looked through them, trying to find more clues as to what had happened. One folder in particular caught his eye.

_**"We don't know much about alternate timelines. The theory is that every choice splits off the main timeline, and alters the course of** _ _**our reality. Each is so important that going back to change even the smallest of details could severely alter our reality, and maybe even cause a tear in time space. Two timelines intersecting could be** _ _**catastrophic, and changing that sort of thing could very well cause it.** _

  
**_According to our research, there is more than just our universe and group of timelines in existence. Other dimensions in the multiverse, as we call it, have their own laws, functions, and intents. If we could get into these universes and study them, we could make great advancements in studies."_**

Under it, a few stains dotted the paper, as if someone had cried on it. The text there was smudged, but he could make it out. It was the same rushed handwriting from before.

**_"the experiment failed. g's gone. i don't know what happened to him, if he's still alive or anything. he fell into the transporter in one of the secret rooms of the core. i don't know if he reached another timeline, universe, or even another multiverse if those exist, but he's no longer here. i was the only one who saw_ ** **_him fall. no one seems to remember him, not even papyrus."_ **

So Gaster went missing and only Sans remembered him? That would explain why he couldn't recall him, but what about the other?

He kept looking through the notes until he found a sheet of paper completely covered in the messy writing.

_**"** _ _**3-5-2057:** _ _**"** _

_That's funny..._ he thought. _That date is today..._

_He shook his head_ _and continued reading._ _I'll figure it out later._

_**"** _ _**pa** _ _**p became the head of the royal guard last week. says i have to call him "boss". i don't have any time for research anymore. he makes me get up at 5:00, and by the time i get home, it's already 11:00. "boss" probably wouldn't let me leave the house anyways. i could try teleporting, but the fact that i'm an insomniac combined with how little time I get to sleep has really lowered my magic levels. i'd probably be fine if it weren't for my one hp. one mistake and poof, i'll be a pile of dust. can't have that happening.** _ _**"** _

_Wait... if that's me... why would I make my own brother call me Boss? And how was this guy still alive if he only had one hp?_

He continued reading.

" _ **3-30-2057**_

_**boss made me** _ _**put** _ _**on a coller today. he says it shows that i belong** _ _**to** _ _**him. i dont. i tried to tell him that but he** _ _**hit** _ _**me.** _

_**i have to much truble riting these. i now im suposed to now more than this. i just cant remember why. i can barly reed my notes so i dont now what** _ _**i** _ _**forgot. i just hope it dosnt get worse..."** _

The entry ended there, but under it there was one more line of text. This one had no date.

_**"it got worse. im an idiot. i shood have seen this coming. boss keeps hurting me. he-"** _

It cut off as if the writer had been startled. No other writing was on the page. Papyrus sighed. He'd have to figure it out. _Maybe Alphys can help._

 _(Hello hi yes this_ _is_ _just a note._ _I'm_ _kinda basing_ _what's_ _happening to Sans on_ _what_ _happened to Charlie in the book "Flowers for Algernon". If you_ _haven't_ _read it,_ _I_ _would_ _highly_ _suggest doing so._ _It's_ _a really really REALLY good book.)_  
\- - -

Stretch's head shot off his pillow, and he gasped, soul still beating wildly from the nightmare. Slowly, he became aware that he was in his room. He turned his head, looking for something. _What am_ _I_ _looking for?_ He asked himself. He found that he didn't really know. He _should_ know.... He sighed, shaking his head. _What_ _was_ _that_ _dream, anyways?_

He shrugged and climbed out of bed. _Eh. Better get up. Bro's gonna want me up soon anyways._

He threw on his trademark orange hoodie and proceeded towards the door of his room. He was just reaching for the door knob when the door itself was flung open from the other side. He scarcely had time to dodge it, ending up staggering a few feet backwards, panting from the sudden start.

"yeesh, bro. almost killed me ther-" He was cut off as Blue pulled him into a tight hug. "uhh... sans?"

The smaller skeleton was trembling, crying into his brother's hoodie.

"P-pap! Y-you're okay!"

"...bro? why wouldn't i be okay?"

"H-he k-killed you... and then he turned on me and I knew he was gonna kill me too and I just couldn't- and Red! He was so- and I couldn't- I couldn't protect you!"

Stretch watched, confused, as Blue broke down in his arms. "sans, what are you talking about? who hurt you?"

"D-don't you remember?"

"no, i don't know what you're talking about..."

"Oh." Blue sighed, letting go of Stretch as his crying died down. Looking past him, he raised a nonexistent eyebrow. "Where's Red?"

"who?"

Blue stared at his brother, shocked and rather dumbfounded.

"He's me, but... I think you called him more edgy? I don't know."

"uhhhh i'm pretty sure i'd remember if i ever knew someone like that." Stretch frowned.

Blue was silent for a moment, thinking. "You said he was from a different universe? I don't understand that very well, but maybe it'll help? We were both Sans, so you called him Red and me Blue. He never wanted to call you Papyrus for some reason, though."

"well then what did he call me?" Stretch asked, becoming more confused by the second.

"He always called you Stretch..." He turned his head at the sharp intake of breath that came from beside him. "Paps?"

Stretch didn't respond. He stared ahead, as if stuck in a trance. "red," he breathed.

Suddenly, he seemed to snap out of it. He turned to Blue, a panicked expression on his face. "blue! what happened? i was- and you were- and red's brother...!" his eyes darkened. "if i ever find that bastard, he'll wish he'd never been born."

"Paps!" Blue yelled. "We can't exactly find him very easily. Neither of us even know what happened after... well..."

Stretch flinched, absentmindedly bringing his hand to cover his ribcage. Blue regarded him sadly.

"what happened after i..." He trailed off, but succeeded in getting his message across.

"The other you... s-stabbed my eye socket... I-it hurt.. so bad... R-red was begging for him to stop hurting me and he said he would but then-" He covered his face with his hands, dropping to the floor and curling into himself. "H-he dropped me and I thought he was actually going to leave.... b-but he summoned a bone and held it up... and Red yelled something but I just... It h-hurt so bad, papy..." He sobbed.

Stretch was quick to comfort him.

"brother, calm down... it's okay, now." he hesitated.

Blue nodded. "W-we need to find Red, though."

"yeah... i think i know how we can find him... it's going to take a long time, though. i can only hope that he can hang in there long enough."

\- - -

Red shuddered, curling up in the snow as he had every night. His shorts and jacket were gone. It wasn't like they'd protected much, as torn and tattered as they were, but without them, he felt... bare. And that was exactly what he was, he supposed. Not a single scrap of clothing other than the restraining collar around his neck. He didn't really even know if that could be considered clothing.

He shivered violently, trying in vain to warm his freezing bones. He could only think about the fact that he'd forgotten. How could he have forgotten? He didn't even know what he forgot but he knew that it was something that he shouldn't have to struggle to remember. He hadn't wanted to forget, but his master had forced the memories away.

After doing this, his master had... _used him_... again. This time, instead of tossing him outside to a painful landing and then throwing his clothes at him, Sans had not bothered with anything past throwing him to the ground and leaving him there, feeling dirty, disgusting, and, soon after, freezing.

He fell into an exhausted unconsciousness, painfully slowly.

He woke up to the front door slamming open.

Instead of being kicked or hit, he felt the invasive magic in his mind again. _What did master want?_ Red started when his life began slipping away. Not in the sense that he was dying, though. He felt his experiences, his past feelings, and his old thoughts and fears begin to escape from his grasp. soon there would be nothing left. He could see the pieces of his memories floating away. It was almost mesmerizing. He felt a tug at his hands. He looked down. What he was holding looked like a word. It wasn't in any language he had ever seen, but its meaning spoke to him without any reading.

"red," he breathed, almost silently. "my name is red."

The last of his memories flowed by. He felt so... empty. His name was all he had left. He held it closer to him, as if it were a precious treasure. _Red._

It tried to pull away from him. _No! My name is Red,_ he insisted to himself. In his desperation to remember this one small word, he lost concentration, loosened his grip. The name slipped through his phalanges, flowing away from him.

He was suddenly back in the snow.

"Are you ready to cooperate, now?" Master asked.

" **yes, master.** " he answered flatly, devoid of any feeling.

He was still exhausted, but his mind screamed at him to please his master, to not miss a single order.

"Heel," Sans grinned evilly.

" **yes,** " he said, again.

He stumbled behind his master. Why did he have to stumble? He was letting master down by doing it. He began to tremble. He did not want to see his owner angry. He picked up his pace and struggled not to trip, despite his utter exhaustion. Anything to please his master.

\- - -

( _ **O**_ **h** _Y_ **e** **S I** D _I_ **d JuS** _T e_ **ND It T** h 3 **rE** )

\- - -

"The pancakes are done!" Russel announced, serving the pancakes onto three different plates. "Could you go get Sans up, Jazz?"

Jazz stiffened, but nodded. He could do that.

He slowly walked to the stairs and began climbing them. He shook more and more as he neared the other skeleton's room.

 _He's not M'lord. I'm fine. He won't hurt me._ He reminded himself with every step. He paused with his hand on the doorknob, then, bracing himself, he opened the door.

"s-sans?" he called into the room, the name still unfamiliar in his mouth.

"nnnghg... jus' gimme like two years, paps.... i'll be up... mmgh..." Sans groaned tiredly.

Jazz steadied his shaking hands as best as he could before moving into the room.

"r-russel says you need to g-get up..." The skeleton across the room made no move to do so. "...s-sans?"

"ughghghg fiiiine." Sans grumbled saltily.

He sat up in the bed and looked across the room at Jazz, who froze with a startled squeak. His half-awake eyelights realized that he was talking not to his brother, but to the taller skeleton's doppelgänger.

"oh... 'sup, other paps... tell my bro i'll be down in a minute. i'm just a bit _bone tired_ right now."

Jazz's head snapped up upon hearing the pun. "y-y-you like puns?" He asked.

Sans nodded.

He still didn't know how he felt about talking to Sans, but he hadn't heard or made a joke in so long... he'd always loved them. Maybe... just maybe...

"o-o-oh, so you have a-a.... fu-funny bone?" He asked timidly.

Sans stared at him with an unreadable expression.

"s-sorry!" Jazz stuttered. "i-i won't make any more puns! p-p-please d-don't-!"

"woah, kiddo! calm down! i'm not mad! _tibia_ honest, that was a great pun!" Sans smiled reassuringly.

He stood up from the bed, found his jacket on the floor, slipped it on, and walked towards the door.

Jazz immediately moved out of Sans's way, not wanting to get in the way and make the other skeleton mad at him. Sans walked by him and towards the stairs. Jazz stood still, unsure of what to do.

Sans turned to look at him. "ya comin'?"

He nodded quickly and followed close behind Sans's heels, like he'd been taught to. The shorter skeleton noticed this, but said nothing, opting not to make the taller skeleton more uncomfortable than he already was.

They reached the living room and Sans flopped down on the couch. Jazz, not knowing any better, sat down next to his knees, on the floor.

Sans regarded him curiously. "why're you sitting on the floor again?"

Jazz flinched. "i-i'm sorry! i-i'm just a-always s-s-supposed to s-sit on the floor.... m-m-m'lord says that m-m-mutts a-aren't allowed on f-furniture..."

Sans felt a spike of anger. How could any version of him be so cruel to _his own brother_? Jazz must have sensed the other skeleton's mood somehow, because he flinched violently and curled up, shaking.

"i-i'm sorry i m-m-made you mad! ple-please d-don't p-punish me!" he sobbed out, curling up and hugging his knees.

Sans was off the couch and next to him in an instant. He wrapped his arms around the shuddering mess and rubbed comforting circles into his back, as he did whenever Russel had a nightmare.

"h-hey, kiddo, it's okay," he reassured. "i'm not mad at you. even if i was, i would never hurt you. you're safe here, okay?"

Jazz relaxed a minuscule amount. "...s...s-safe?" The word was still very unfamiliar to him.

Sans nodded, still rubbing the other's back. "yes."

Jazz smiled slightly, tears still threatening to spill down his cheeks. "th-thank you..."

He'd come to the conclusion that this skeleton was nothing like his lord. For one, he was shorter and somehow... chubbier. For another, his voice was quieter, and maybe a bit deeper. He didn't have a crack on his eye socket, and his teeth were smooth, unlike his counterpart's razor-sharp smile. The blue jacket he wore- blue, not purple like his lord's scarf - smelled like ketchup, not dust, fear, and despair.

The smaller skeleton pulled away from the hug and smiled at Jazz. "you okay now, buddy?

Jazz nodded. Sans stood up and stuck his hand out to the other. "here, i'll help you up."

Jazz hesitated a moment, before reaching up and grabbing the other's hand with his good arm. Sans, being surprisingly strong for his small-ish size, pulled him up to his feet easily. He then turned to walk to the kitchen.

Jazz stood still, unsure of what to do.

Russel, who was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, smiled at him. "You can wait on the couch if you want, Jazz. I'll bring the pancakes out there."

Jazz nodded and tentatively sat down on the couch. He pressed himself against the armrest, trying to take up as little space as possible.

Russel disappeared back into the kitchen, followed by his brother.

"why'd ya call him jazz?" Sans asked as he grabbed two of the plates of pancakes from the counter.

"Well we can't both be Papyrus, so he's Jazz and I'm Russel."

"that makes sense... why jazz though?"

"He likes jazz music."

"ah."

Russel grabbed the other plate an three forks and brought them into the living room, followed by Sans. He sat down on the couch next to Jazz, and Sans sat next to him after handing the extra plate he carried to the third skeleton.

Sans grabbed a remote from on the couch and switched the TV on.

Russel glanced over at Jazz to see him smiling, and to his complete delight, relaxed. Jazz himself felt the safest he had in years. He wanted to stay there forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ya like Jazz?


	7. VII

 

Stretch and Blue walked through Hotland, the taller of the two almost running towards the lab.

Upon reaching the building, he knocked loudly. The door almost immediately opened, and a fish monster appeared in the doorway. She immediately beckoned the the skeletons into the laboratory, pulling them past a large monitor displaying a human child navigating the labyrinth that was new home.

Soon, they had reached a machine that looked a bit like a rushed job. It was a large box next to a somewhat large archway made of complex-looking machinery.

"I-I just finished this morning, while you weren't here." Undyne said, fiddling with the switches. "Sh-should I turn it on?" she asked.

"yes." Stretch's voice was confident.

"A-are you sure?"

"yes! it's been three months, and god knows what's happening to him in that hellhole!" Stretch practically yelled.

"O-okay. Three... two... one-!" She flipped a switch, and a whirring noise rang out through the quiet lab as the portal turned on.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed out from it, and for a split second Stretch caught a glimpse of another skeleton with a shocked expression on his face. Then it felt like the portal was dragging him towards it. Blue, who was closest to it, was pulled through almost immediately. The disturbance as the small skeleton passed through the portal caused the machine to begin shaking. Soon after that, all noise coming from the machine stopped and the portal deactivated, smoke rising up from the control panel

"b-blue!?" Stretch called out. "brother!?"

No form of answer came from the now silent machine.

\- - -

Blue let out a startled scream as he fell to the ground on the other side of the portal. He looked up to see a... familiar... face.

"Y-you!" he scrambled backwards, his eye glowing as he prepared to summon an attack.

"Huh?" The other took a step towards him, an almost worried look in his eye sockets.

"Y-you-" Blue gasped, cutting himself off. "Where's Red!?"

"Wait wha-... Who?" The other's confusion was extremely apparent.

"Your brother! Where is he!?"

\- - -

Papyrus drew in a breath at the smaller skeleton's words.

"You know my brother?"

"Yes. Where is he?"

"Not here."

Blue didn't respond.

"Who are you, anyways, and how do you know my brother?"

"Well, I'm Sans. Not your Sans, though."

"What do you mean _my_ Sans?"

"I'm from another universe."

\- - -

Muffet slipped out of her house, her breath fogging up in the dark, cold air around her. Walking through the snow as quietly as possible, she made her way to Sans's house. She stopped upon reaching it, glancing around the corner at the wretched creature chained to the wall. It was missing most of its ribs, and it was covered in ice and frozen bone marrow, along with some other frozen liquid she found she didn't want to name.

It was shaking, curled up into a fetal position. There wasn't a single bone on it that wasn't fractured in some way. Tears dripped down its face, freezing on before they even reached its chin. She took a tentative step towards it. It didn't react, still shaking and sobbing softly.

She made to take another step, her shuffling alerting the creature of her presence. It looked up, its shaking intensifying. Its eyesockets were dark, not even the slightest trace of light remaining in them. She kept approaching, and it didn't do anything. Its sobs became quieter, however, and it trembled more violently with each step she took.

Soon, she was standing above it. It looked even worse up close, the jagged cuts and breaks in its bones caked with dust and frozen marrow. Slowly, she kneeled down so she could reach its collar. After struggling to get it off for a moment, she realized that it was a lost cause, and settled instead for unlocking the chain from the collar.

Picking the tiny, frail skeleton up, she began walking back towards her house. Other than the rattling of its bones as it shivered, the skeleton made no sound.   
Upon reaching her house, Muffet opened the door, slipped in, and closed and locked it behind her. Once they were inside, however, the broken monster in her arms began to panic. It struggled weakly, whimpering out a plea.

"pl....please, no.... m-ma...aster, i-ill b-be go-...ood! n-n-no, please, do...on't!" Its voice was barely audible, but what she did make out made her blood boil.

What had _that bastard_ done to it? She'd thought that making Papyrus call him 'M'lord' was demeaning enough, but ' _master'_?

"Shhhh, it's okay, buddy, calm down!" She whispered, hugging the utterly terrified skeleton to herself.

She walked further into the house, reaching her bathroom. She turned the water on in the bath tub, sticking her hand under it to feel the temperature. It wasn't warm, but it was certainly warmer than the (quite literally) frozen skeleton in her arms. It probably wouldn't be able to stand warm water, considering how absolutely frigid its bones were. She put the plug in and set the small skeleton in the tub. It didn't move to get away from her or out of the tub, only shaking and quietly, almost silently, begging for her not to hurt it.

Once the tub was filled, she took a washcloth and began attempting to scrub the grime off of the skeleton's bones. It didn't make a sound.

After an hour of hard work, she had managed to get most of the mess off it. The water in the tub was now reddish gray.

Without the dust covering its wounds, the skeleton looked in even worse shape. Its bones were seemingly brittle from being cold so long, and many had jagged cracks in them. It seemed that one slip-up could break all of the monster's bones, and yet it was still alive.

_How is that possible?_

She began drying it off, being as gentle as possible. After that was done, she walked into her living room and placed it on the couch before walking into a closet that was next to the door of her room. Crouching down, she opened the box that sat in the corner of the small space, and began looking through its contents. Eventually she found a pair of black leggings and a dark blue hoodie. Walking back to the living room, she found that the tiny skeleton had fallen asleep. She gently moved it into a sitting position and pulled the hoodie over its head. Next, she pulled the leggings onto its legs. They almost looked like sweatpants on the thin creature. It unconsciously snuggled into the hoodie, its hands finding their way into its pockets.

It smiled ever so slightly. "...s-stretch... bro..."

She raised an eyebrow. Stretch? Shrugging it off, she walked into the kitchen and looked around, trying to decide what to make for the small skeleton.

Soup, she said to herself after a moment. She went to work, pulling out the necessary ingredients for the dish.

\- - -

He opened his eyes to complete darkness.

_Where am I?_

Who _am I?_

He heard a voice from some distance behind him. It was familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on how.

"Sans."

The name was familiar too, but it didn't feel right. He turned around to look at the person.

"What are you doing here?"

It was another skeleton. His body was seemingly melting. A crack traveled up from one eye socket, another leading down from the other.

He assumed the stranger was talking to him.

"i.... i don't know..." he said quietly, shaking his skull.

"Sans-"

"it's red."

"Red? Why?"

"so I don't get mixed up with blu-" he cut himself off, the memory of that happened hitting him like a freight train.

Tears began to fall from his eye sockets from the fuzzy memory as he felt the guilt and sorrow wash over him.

"Why are you naked?"

Red looked down at himself, still, teary-eyed, to see that he was, indeed, naked. Fractures and cuts dotted his bones, old or new, he couldn't tell.

"i-i don't kno- oh." he remembered. "he took my clothes."

"Who?"

"m-ma-err... um... sans. i think."

"Oh."

The two... stood? Sat? Laid? He honestly didn't know, they just _were_. But somehow, he had a feeling that they also _weren't._ They _were_ in silence for a moment.

"where are we?"

"The void."

"oh." he'd heard of the void. "c-can we see out?"

"Yes." The monster waved a hand, purple magic sparking from it.

Something like a portal opened up in front of them, and the front of Sans's house could be seen through it. Next to the doorstep was huge red stain in the snow, small piles of dust frozen into the ground in and around it. 

The stranger's eyes widened. "Wh-what happened here!?"

Red's eyelights went dark and he turned away from the portal, not wanting to look. "m-mast-... s-sans... when he's a-angry..."

There was another moment of silence.

"wh-who are you?" Red stuttered out.

"My name is WingDings, but Dings is fine." the other answered.

"i-i know that name from somewhere..."

"How did you get into this universe? You're not from here." Dings closed the portal and opened another, which was looking down upon a room where a small skeleton wearing a dark blue hoodie and black leggings slept on a couch.

"i-i don't kn-now."

"Wait..." Dings squinted at the skeleton on the couch, then looked at Red. "Is that you?"

"i-i don't remember ever being th-there..."

A spider lady walked into a room and stopped for a moment, before shaking the skeleton's shoulder, waking him up.

Red suddenly disappeared, right when the skeleton through the portal woke up.

Dings whirled around, looking for the small skeleton.

"Red?" he called.

_Where did he go?_

\---

Muffet gently shook the skeleton's shoulder. It stirred and its eyesockets opened slowly. It sat up, and looked in confusion at the clothes it was wearing. It then looked up at her. It shot backwards, cowering against the back of the couch.

"p-please do-...on't.... i swe-ear.... i'll be g-g...good..."

"H-hey, shhh! calm down!"

The skeleton immediately clapped a hand over its mouth, still trembling slightly. A few whimpers made it out from behind his hand, and at every noise it made, the skeleton's face became ore horrified and panicked. The reaction somewhat worried her, but she ignored it.

"I made some soup, do you think you can eat it?" She asked softly, not wanting to scare the small monster.

It- _no,_ she decided, _they_ nodded, hesitantly accepting the warm bowl of soup, as if she'd snatch it away from them at the last second.

They picked up the spoon and shakily brought it to their mouth. The moment they swallowed the hot soup, they began to shovel more of it into their mouth, like a starving animal. She decided that that was a good analogy, since that was basically what they were.

Soon, they had finished the bowl, and their eyelids (??? help) were drooping. They had almost fallen asleep again when the door was kicked in.

A sickeningly familiar voice came from the direction of the entrance.

"Muffet! Where is my property!?"

The figure on the couch curled into a ball, choking out terrified pleas at the sound of their master's voice.

Sans stepped into the living room, arms crossed and a malicious grin on his face.

"There you are, pet. Come, now. Come to your master."

The tiny skeleton trembled violently, but nonetheless stood and began to limp towards the other.

"Good dog. However, I'm afraid you failed me by allowing yourself to be captured... a punishment is in order."

The small skeleton shuddered even more, if it was possible.

Suddenly, Sans grabbed his pet's skull and threw them to the ground, before stepping on their rib cage. She heard the wretched creature's bones creak under the pressure, and a few even fractured. They whimpered.

Sans kneeled down and hooked a leash to the collar around their neck. Standing back up, he yanked on the leash, pulling the broken monster into his foot.

"m-m-master ple-ease! d-don't- aahck!" The poor skeleton's hoarse voice barely made a sound.

Sans stepped off their ribcage and pulled them up by the leash, grabbing them by the cervical vertebrae and holding them up above his head. They hung there limply, unable to move at all.

Muffet watched in horror as Sans drove his pet's head into the wall with a loud **crack.** Chips of bone flew everywhere, and when he let go, she could see a gaping hole in the now screaming and sobbing skeleton's head.

They landed awkwardly in a heap next to the wall. Sans smiled, his expression full of malintent.

Without even giving the monster a chance to recover, Sans stomped down on their tibia and fibula, snapping both near their ankle. They screamed, curling up and hugging their broken bones to themself, rocking and weeping.

(Like this, but more jagged of a crack)

"p-please, m-ma...aster, s-sto-op...."

Sans kicked him viciously, causing him to yelp in pain.

"Did I say you could speak, mutt?"

They flinched at the words, whimpering.

He looked up from the sobbing wretch at his feet, making eye contact with Muffet.

"Take this as a warning. Next time I see you anywhere near my property, it won't be this lucky."

He began to drag the marrow-covered skeleton behind him by the leash. "Get up, runt. Come on."

They shakily forced themself to their feet, stumbling behind Sans as they struggled to keep up. Every time their stub of a foot touched the ground, they whimpered.

Sans smirked, and the poor creature fell into the snow with a yelp as their collar shocked them.

"Be quicker about it."

\- - -

Chara sat under the window of Muffet's house, having been watching quietly. They had a hand over their mouth, tears streaking down their face. A voice came from in the bag at their side.

"Th-that poor skeleton..." Temmie said, their voice thick with pity.

Chara nodded, still speechless from the cruelty they had just witnessed. "W-we need to help them..."

\- - -

Dings drew back from the portal, closing it. He didn't want to see anything more of that.

"You kill your own brother, and then you just _replace_ him like he's unimportant! He was your goddamned BROTHER!!!" He yelled into the empty void. "He took care of you, and loved you... and you just threw him away like he was some replaceable animal!"

A tear ran down his face, and he wiped it away, trying to hold back the hundreds more that were waiting to fall. He shook his skull, changing the direction his mind was leaning. _What did that other skeleton mean by not getting mixed up with Blue? If they gave each other nicknames then that would probably mean they have the same name... and this "Red" looks a lot like Sans... Whoever Blue was, he was probably important... Ugh. I should find out who he is._

He opened another portal, hoping to find out something useful.

As the portal opened, he looked out of it and saw...

"Papyrus!?"

Said skeleton was standing in a lab next to... was that Sans?

The smaller skeleton spoke. "I'm from another Universe."

"Those are real!?" Papyrus half yelled.

The blue-clad skeleton flinched.

"Oh, sorry." Papyrus said, his voice down to a normal volume.

"Yeah, whatever. But where is your brother?"

"I don't know."

"How do you not know!?"

"Never met him. At least, as far as I know."

"You've never met your brother."

"Yep."

"Then how did you know who I was asking about?"

"It's, uh.... Complicated?"

"Then explain. As you've probably figured out, I don't much trust you."

(Blue you sassy bitch)

"Okay then."

The tall skeleton walked over to where there was a desk and two office chairs.

He gestured towards the chairs. "You may want to sit down: This is a long story."

The smaller skeleton hesitantly followed him, and sat in one of the chairs. Papyrus took the other.

"A half a year ago, I moved into a house in Snowdin, since I had become the second-in-command in the royal guard. While exploring the house, I found a key. I was wondering what it led to when I noticed a door I hadn't seen before in the side of the house.

"I tried it, and it was locked, but then I thought of the key, and when I tried it in the lock, it worked.

"The room behind it was.. strange. It was a lab. I was curious, so I walked into it, looking around. I found a lot of information in it, about things that apparently had to do with me, but I didn't remember them, which made it even more intriguing.

"Apparantly, some guy named W.D. Gaster created the core, and Sa-.... are you okay?"

Blue didn't respond, curling up into a ball and trembling.

"Who are you?" A voice came from behind Dings, ringing out into the void.

He turned to see... well... himself.

"Oh my...." the other him stared at him, and he stated right back, just as confused.

"Are you me?" Dings asked.

"Probably. I wouldn't be surprised." The other skeleton said, now having recovered from his shock.

"Hm. Any idea what's going on here?"

"Other than my son trying to sort the mess that is this timeline out, not really."

"Which one's your son? Wait... what do you mean by the timeline being a mess?"

"Papyrus is my son. I don't know about the other. And for your second question... well... first of all, my nonexistence, and second of all, this timeline doesn't seem to know who Sans is anymore. Papyrus found the lab in the basement of the house and started piecing things together, like how Sans is his brother and I am his father. He's figured out by now what happened to me, but Sans... He's another story."

"Do _you_ know what happened?"

"No. Last time he disappeared, he was back in a month's time, but he's been gone half a year now. That damned flower made a reset, probably trying to help someone, and Sans was missing after that.

"Though, of course, everyone forgot him. He just isn't in the timeline." The other Gaster explained.

"Wait..." Dings remembered the poor wretch in his universe. "What does he look like?"

"He's around four feet five inches, and he's got a crack in his right eye socket. He has a lot of scars because, well, his brother was never very... err... good to him... He's got sharp teeth and one is gold, and he's probably terrified of everything and everyone, no thanks to Papyrus."

"Oh no..." Dings murmured.

"What?"

"I think.... I think I know where he is."

"Where!?"

"You're not gonna like it."

He opened another portal with his magic and pointed at the side of the house it opened looking upon.

'Red' was now chained to the wall in a standing position, a bone stabbed through his scapula, forcing him to stand.

"Sans..." the skeleton next to him called out in a choked voice. "What happened!?"

Dings's eye sockets went dark. "My son thinks he can do whatever he wants with no consequences."

"Which son? Assuming you have two like I do..."

"Sans."

At that very moment, said skeleton walked out of the house and dematerialized the bone through Red's shoulder blade. The smaller skeleton immediately fell to the ground, trembling.

Sans picked him up and dragged him into the house.

The other Gaster went to close the portal and open another, but Dings grabbed his hand before he could do so.

He shook his head. "I wouldn't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm guessing you don't want to see your son get raped."

"W-what?"

\- - -

Red was back in the void. After being thrown back outside after... uhh... _that_ , he'd slowly fallen unconscious, and was now here.

"..oh."

Two people behind him were talking. He turned that way and made his way over to the two figures, recognizing one to be Dings because of his purple eyelights.

The other one was oddly familiar.

"dings?"

The skeleton turned and saw him. "Red!"

The other skeleton stared at him. "S-sans!?"

"d-dings, who is that? i re-ecognize h-him..."

"Red, I think this is your father."

"Sans, are you okay?" Gaster asked.

"y-yeah, g.... i'm fine..."

"G" drew in a breath at the name. "Sans! You remembered my name!?"

"huh-" he realized what he'd called him. "oh... it just f-felt right... i feel like i'm supposed to know you."

"Sans-"

"call me red now, okay?"

"Okay... Red, where were you when you were missing? You were gone for almost a month!"

"o-oh... i was with stretch and blue in their universe."

"Who?"

"stretch and blue found me and took me in... we were basically family... they were alternate versions of me and b-boss..."

"Oh... what happened, then?"

"u-um... boss showed up a-and... h-he wanted to take me back, so i said i'd go with him if he didn't hurt blue or stretch, so he took me back... i d-d-didn't listen to him as well as before though, and he went back there and-" he sobbed, cutting himself off. "he k-killed them! i-i-i couldn't do a-anything and he just-" fat tears dripped down Red's face as he cried.

"Sa-Red!" G embraced the sobbing skeleton in a hug, patting his back.

Red wrapped his arms around his father, weeping uncontrollably.

"i-i k-k-k-killed him... i d-didn't know what to do, and he was there, and i j-just-" he sobbed brokenly for a moment. "i wanted him t-to not be there and m-my magic just... i-i killed him!"

"Red, calm down! It's okay..."

"n-no, it's not! i-i killed my own b-brother!"

"Sans, he's not dead. Dings and I saw him."

Red looked up hopefully. "y-you did?"

G nodded.

"w-what about stretch? blue?"

"We didn't see Stretch, but we think we saw Blue."

"c-can you look? f-for stretch, i-i mean... p-please, i need to know..."

"I can try..."

G waved his hand, and red sparks flew from his fingertips as his magic opened a new window. Through it, Red could see what looked like Stretch's house. He drew in a breath.

"Is this it?" G asked.

"i-i think s-so..."

The three skeletons watched through the portal as the door opened and a short skeleton dressed in a blue hoodie and basketball shorts walked in. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> those void stalkers... creepy creeps watchin Sans
> 
> strANGER DANGER BOI
> 
> also how'd ya like Blue's reaction to void dad's name? OOO BOI I HOPE I LEFT YOU WITH QUESTIONS
> 
> oh and also Red can't remember his void-y dreams when he's awake. He can barely even remember the waking world when he's with the gasters so uh
> 
> Explanation: The part of him in the void is the part of himself he forgot. Yay dumb explanations for dumb story shit-
> 
> yeah i just thought i'd clear that up.


	8. VIII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! This chapter is like
> 
> Brutal
> 
> Um yeah that

 

**Previously-**

- _The three skeletons watched through the portal as the door opened and a short skeleton dressed in a blue hoodie and basketball shorts walked in."_  
_-_

Red stared at the unknown skeleton. "who...?"

Behind the blue-clad skeleton, a taller one wearing an orange and yellow sweater and a red scarf walked in. Behind him was another skeleton that looked identical to him, holding his hand and looking nervous. He wore a red sweater and a pair of black sweatpants.

Dings, who was next to him, gasped at the sight of the third skeleton. "Papyrus!?"

G looked over at the other. "You know him?"

Dings nodded, tears forming in his eye sockets. "That's my other son! I thought... I thought he was dead!!"

The skeleton wearing the blue hoodie spoke. "welp. i'm tired. gonna head to bed."

"Sans, it's only six-thirty!" The skeleton with the scarf scolded.

"so? i'm tired."

"y-y-you mean _b-bone tired_?" Dings's son asked hesitantly, flinching as he said it, as if wondering if he would be punished for the joke.

The shorter one snickered, and the tallest of the three facepalmed.

"awwww, come on, bro! that one was a real _rib tickler!_ " The shortest shrugged, winking in an exaggerated manner.

"y-yeah, russel! it's just meant to b-be _h-humerus_!"

"Jazz," The tallest, apparently called Russel, chided, though he was smiling. "I cannot believe you right now. _Must_ you encourage him?"

"what, bro? you're smiling!"

"I am and I hate it!" the tallest groaned, retreating into the kitchen. "I'm going to make spaghetti, but if I hear any more puns, you won't get any!"

The shortest skeleton chuckled at the empty threat.

The two in the living room kept trading jokes, the weaker of the two still a bit hesitantly, but the spectators were now ignoring them, talking amongst themselves.

Dings wiped a few tears from his eyesockets with his arm.

G looked at him, concerned. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Dings nodded. "Sorry..." He sniffed. "I just... I thought he was dead! I'm glad he's okay."

"I know that feeling." G patted his friend's back.

"Wait a second, _where's Red!?_ " Dings whirled around, looking for the small skeleton.

\- - -

Chara watched from their hiding place as the poor wretch chained to the wall woke up. Quietly, they began to move towards the broken skeleton. The monster heard them step, and its empty eyesockets were immediately on Chara. It began to tremble, shrinking backwards as they approached.  
They kneeled down next to it, trying not to look intimidating. The small creature flinched, scrunching its eyesockets shut.

Chara slowly pulled something from their pocket and held it out to the small creature. It opened one eye and saw the cinnamon bunny that was being presented to it.

"I-It's okay, I won't hurt you." Chara reassured.

The skeleton shakily reached out to grab the food. As it passed between their hands, the skeleton's phalanges brushed against Chara's fingers, and Chara almost pulled back at how cold the bones were.

"Go ahead. Eat it; you look like you need it..." Chara smiled half-heartedly, even as the rage in their soul peaked.  
_How could he treat someone like that?_

The monster sniffed at the cinnamon bun, as if it expected it to be poisoned. It looked up at them, and seeing their determined and slightly angry expression, flinched and took a hurried bite out of the food, afraid of punishment for not doing as it was told. After only a second, it began to wolf down the treat. It half-smiled at the small amount of warmth spreading through its cold bones.

Chara heard a sound from inside the house and darted away behind the side of the building, terrified of being found. The skeleton shrank into a ball and began to tremble, whimpering as the door opened.

Sans stepped out of the house, looking down at the monster cowering in the snow. He eyed it, noticing something. He checked the wretch's stats, and frowned. Its magic and health levels were higher than they should've been.

He crouched down and gently took hold of the side of his pet's face. "Who helped you?" He asked, his voice sickly sweet and obviously hiding anger.

The smaller skeleton screwed its eyesockets shut, unresponsive, not wanting to give away what might be its only friend and chance of help.

Sans's grip on its chin tightened, and it whimpered.

Chara, who was watching from around the corner, put a hand over their mouth.

"Who do you belong to, mutt?"

"y-y-you, m-ma-aster..."

"Who owns your every thought, word, and entire being?"

"y-you, ma-"

It was cut off as Sans let go of its chin and used his other hand to punch its face. It yelped, tears beginning to fall from its eyesockets.

It curled up in the snow, trembling and trying in vain to protect its skull and ribcage with its fractured, scarred, and bruised arms.

Chara shut their eyes, not wanting to watch this. They began to tiptoe away from the gruesome scene that was unfolding, and snuck back to where they and Temmie had set up camp. The small cat-like monster wasn't there, however, so Chara snuck down to the river, slowly making their way behind and past Sans's house, wincing as they heard a snap and a scream.

They drew in a breath as they realized someone was coming their way, and quickly dashed in the direction they had been heading, out of sight.

They had gone by the time the skeletons got to the clearing. Sans dragged his captive through the snow, the poor creature's whimpers and cries only feuling his anger.

The two reached the river, and Sans threw his pet into the roaring waters, still holding the leash. The tiny skeleton screamed before being submerged in the rapids, the spikes on the inside of its collar driving deeper into its cervical vertebrae as the rapids pulled at it, doing nothing as the collar was still attached to the leash in Sans's hand. Suddenly, its soul was turned blue, and the tiny skeleton was pulled down against the rocks at the bottom of the river, hard. Streams of red flowed away from its body as it went limp. Sans growled and pulled it to shore by the leash, practically tossing it into the snow as soon as it was close enough to him to grab. The collar around its neck glowed purple for a moment, and it woke up with a yelp as electricity jolted through its bones. The water covering it was rapidly freezing, and it shivered, cowering.

"Will you tell me now, slave?"

The creature whimpered, but did not respond otherwise. Sans approached it and stomped down on its ribcage, causing it to scream. He knelt and grabbed one of the jagged edges of the hole in his pet's skull and snapped a triangle of bone off, smirking as the tiny monster screamed again, bone marrow dripping down its skull and ribcage to join the many layers of frozen grime. He took a longer leash off of his belt and attached it to the end of the one tied to his pet. He then tied the end of that around a thinner tree that grew near the water. Without a moment's hesitation, he kicked the poor creature, causing it to fall back into the river. The leash went taut, pulling on the tree as it was caught once again in the rapids.

Sans turned and left, smirking as his pet screamed and sobbed, being thrown around by the raging water.

\- - -

Chara took a shaky breath, the cruelty they had witnessed only feuling their determination to help this monster.

They continued to sneak towards the spider lady's house. She'd tried to help the poor creature before, so maybe they could work together.

Chara approached the door, raising their hand to knock timidly. They heard footsteps from inside, and the door was shortly opened.

\- - -

Muffet looked down at the unexpected visitor, rather confused. They were a mere child, if their worn green and yellow striped sweater was anything to go by.

That wasn't what concerned her, however. She had immediately recognized that the child was _human._

She grabbed their shoulder and pulled them inside, slamming the door shut so no one saw. "You're a human!"

They nodded, looking rather unsure.

"Why are you _here_ of all places!? You realize the _captain_ of the royal guard lives in this town, right?"

"I need to talk to you... You were trying to help that skeleton, right?" The child asked. "I know a safe place where we can take them."

"You want to help them? Why?" Muffet was now quite interested. Maybe the child could help.

"What kind of question is that!? Have you seen what he's been doing to them?"

\- - -

The freezing water pushed at the skeleton, slipping between its joints and pulling it around like a rag doll. It kept hitting the poor thing against rocks and chunks of ice floating down the river, bruising and scratching its bones. Water filled its skull, pushing outward and making its head feel fit to burst.

It shrieked as its good foot was lodged in a crevice, the water still pulling it downstream and side to side, the collar and leash atached to its neck not actually allowing it to be swept along with the river. Everytime it moved, more pressure built up on its leg. A large piece of ice floating nearby was caught in the current and slammed into the small monster, causing its knee to bend the wrong way. It let out a blood-curdling scream that was muffled by the water as a fracture in its femur splintered, before snapping close to its patella.

Bone marrow was swept away by the roiling water, and the skeleton began to feel light- headed, even though its skull was full of water.

Excruciating pain clouded any coherent thoughts, and the skeleton whimpered as it was bashed into the part of its leg that was still wedged into the rocks. The splinters in the bone drove into its spine and shoulder blades.

Suddenly, its head was hit on a rock, and it knew no more.

\- - -

Dings and G watched through the window, horrified, as Sans threw Red into the river, tying his leash to a tree and leaving. G hugged his friend, sobbing, as his son was bashed into rocks and ice, the small skeleton's wailing barely audible over the roar of the water.

Dings flinched when the small skeleton's ankle was caught between some rocks, and he gasped when a snap rang out over the river's sound as his femur broke.

After a couple seconds, the skeleton was dragged under, out of sight, and when his body came back up, he seemed to be mercifully unconscious.

G, who was still sobbing, hugged him even tighter. Both skeletons whirled around as a scream rang out from behind them. G let go of Dings, rushing over towards his son, who was now curled up in the distance, screaming bloody murder. He pulled Red into his embrace, wrapping his arms tightly around the shuddering, coughing, and sobbing mess.

Red didn't respond to the touch, hugging his broken femur to his rib cage and gasping for air that, as a skeleton, he didn't need.

"Red! C-calm down! Breathe in time with me, okay? Focus on it." G said, mimicking the movement of breathing. It wasn't a necessary function for skeletons, but it was comforting. Red did his best to slow his breathing to match his father's, his breaths shaky and shallow. He turned and hugged his dad around the middle, screwing his eyesockets shut.

As his breathing slowed, it became steadier. "That's it, you're okay." G rubbed his son's back.

Red, who was now 'breathing' in time with G, opened his eyesockets slightly. "th-th-thanks..." He whimpered out, relaxing.

Dings walked over, sitting next to them. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"y-y-yeah... i-i don't know wh-why I was so frea-eaked out..."

Both of the taller skeletons were taken aback. "What?"

Red didn't reply immediately, hugging his knee to himself and breathing shakily.

"i d-d-don't really remem-ember what happens when i'm awake... the last thing i really remember is s-s-sans t-taking my memories..."

Both Gasters started.

"...Taking your memories?" G asked.

"y-yeah... i don't remember anything when i'm awake, i think."

\- - -

Stretch woke with a start, squinting in the bright lights of the lab. He stood from the office chair he'd fallen asleep in, stretching and glancing at a nearby clock.

3:06 AM

He sighed, mentally scolding himself for falling asleep. He needed to focus. Crossing the room, he looked over the machine he'd been working on for the past week. It was still unfinished.

Footsteps rang out behind him, and he turned to see who it was.

"You said you would go home and rest." Undyne crossed her arms, noting the bags under the skeleton's eye sockets.

"i did sleep." He said, shrugging.

Undyne scoffed. "For what, two hours?"

"one," Stretch corrected.

"...You're not helping your case. Look, I understand that you're worried, but you can't help either of them if you don't take care of yourself. Go home, and come back at eleven, okay?" She suggested.

"but-"

"No buts, Papyrus. Go home."

The skeleton sighed tiredly, not willing to put up a fight. Calling on his magic, he teleported back to his house, collapsing on the couch immediately as the exertion from using his magic when he was so tired caught up with him.

Undyne, back at the lab, sighed.

\- - -

Blue followed Papyrus through Snowdin, glancing around timidly at the hostile town. The taller skeleton led him around a house that looked very much like his own, and into the back door.

Instead of the messy lab Blue expected to be met with, he was surprised to see a surprisingly tidy work space.

"You're better at keeping it organized than my brother." He remarked.

"It was a mess when I first found it." Papyrus said, opening a drawer and grabbing a few files full of pictures and notes. He pulled out a photo of a young skeleton standing next to a taller skeleton. Both wore lab coats, and smiled for a picture.

"This is one of my more recent finds... it was in Alphys's lab- the one we were in before. I forgot to mention that she found the situation as interesting as I did, and agreed to help." Papyrus explained. "Anyways, it was in the office that belonged to ga- err... the previous royal scientist: mine and Sa- Red's father."

Blue tilted his skull to the side. "What was his name?"

Papyrus scratched the back of his skull, remembering Blue's reaction to the name before. "I can't remember. Red called him "G" in his notes."

Blue nodded, looking at the picture. "Yeah, that's definitely Red." He said, nodding.

Papyrus sighed. "Can you... tell me about him? What's he like?"

Blue jumped up to sit on the counter, careful not to move any of the neatly stacked papers placed on it.

"Well... He's jumpy and timid a lot, but when he's comfortable he likes to make jokes- mostly puns. He likes to laze around with my brother, but if there's any work to be done he'll help without complaint. He likes to feel helpful, I think. He could never really do all that much when he was here because... err... you were never very nice to him... he was terrified of Pap- um.. Stretch. When we found him, I mean. They started to get along really well, and they actually... um..."

"What?"

"They were a thing. They held hands a lot, and cuddled and hugged. I saw them kiss once too. I got a few pictures of them sleeping all curled up around each other on my phone, to use as blackmail material, of course, but they're gone now because of a... reload, did you call it? That happened in my universe, I think."

Papyrus was rather taken aback by the information. "Huh... what does he look like?"

Blue thought for a moment, before pointing at the picture Papyrus was still holding. "Like that, but he wears a black hoodie with fluff lining the hood... he's taller than that, now. He's skinnier than me, too... like, he's... I'd say lanky, but he's too small for that to sound right? Yeah, he's about shoulder level on me. Also he's got a crack on his eyesocket, there." With his finger, he drew an imaginary line over the skeleton in the picture's eyesocket. "Also, he's got lots of... uhh, scars."

"...Scars?"

"L-like I said.... you treated him really.... badly."

Papyrus sighed. "He hinted at that a couple times when he was writing..."

Blue nodded.

"Well... do you have any idea where he is?" Papyrus asked hopefully.

"No. We thought he'd be here." Blue answered.

\- - -

"I finished the spaghetti!" Russel called from the kitchen.

Sans stood up and walked towards the other room. When he noticed Jazz still on the couch, he beckoned to the skeleton.

"c'mon," he smiled encouragingly.

"y-yes, sir..." Jazz stood and follwed, though a bit hesitantly.

"just call me sans, kiddo. it's fine."

Jazz made a small noise in the back of his throat.

"somethin' wrong?" Sans asked, tilting his skull slightly.

"u-uhm... i-is there so-something else i c-c-could ca-all you?" Jazz stuttered out quietly. "i-i um... i d-don't think i can c-c-call you _his_ n-name..."

"oh." Sans said, his expression sympathetic. He thought for a moment. "how does 'comic' sound?" He asked.

"th-that's good..." Jazz answered, relieved. "...th-thanks."

"no problem, kid." Comic smiled, turning to walk into the kitchen.

Jazz followed shortly after. Russel handed Comic a plate of spaghetti, and grabbed the other two, presenting one to Jazz on the way out. The three skeletons sat on the couch, the healthier pair talking idly and the weaker content to listen, enjoying the spaghetti almost as much as he had the food from Grillby's.

"th-this is re-eally g-good," he commented during a lull in the conversation.

Russel turned towards him, positively beaming. "You really think so!?"

Jazz nodded, his soul leaping at the idea of making someone happy, especially Russel. Wait... _especially Russel?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The smol beans
> 
> They need to kiss already. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
> 
> ...How to shipping?


	9. IX

Sans growled as he swaggered through Snowdin. As he neared his house, his face twisted into a wicked grin. He walked by the back of the building, towards the river. As he approached the tree with his pet's leash tied to it, his smile only grew. He grabbed the leash and untied it, yanking on it to pull the creature ashore. It didn't move as it was dragged onto the bank, nor when he grabbed the side of its skull to look into its eyesockets, which, despite its unconsciousness, were open.

He chuckled, using his magic to bore into the other's mind and wake it up. He shocked it, and it woke with a yelp, immediately moving to hug its broken femur. He tugged on the leash, dragging it behind him and towards the house.

He threw the tiny skeleton against the wall and approached it, crouching down to its level. It cowered against the wall, whimpering and sobbing. He put his hand on the side of its face, holding it gently.

It pushed its head into his hand, desperate for any kind of contact that wasn't pain.

He smirked. "Pathetic."

He tightened his hold on its chin and shoved its already disfigured head into the wall. Hard.

It screamed, sobs interrupting its voice every once in awhile.

"Will you tell me who helped you now?"

It didn't seem to hear him. He growled and grabbed its face again.

"Listen, you mutt."

It shut up, whimpering quietly, its eyelights still missing.

"Tell me who helped you."

It whimpered.

"Now."

It began to hyperventilate, whimpering with every exhale.

He growled.

"I didn't want to do this."

He used his magic to reach into its mind, and was hit with an overwhelming wave of panic and screams of _icantremembericantremembericantremembericantrememberpleasenonono-!_

He growled and dropped it. "Useless mutt."

It whimpered, holding its stub legs close to itself and shuddering, terrified. "p-p-please, m-m-ma...aster... d-d-don't..."

He kicked its ribs. "Did I say you could speak, dog?"

It yelped and whimpered, cowering against the side of the house again.

He growled. "You were a waste of my time."

He summoned a bone to impale the sobbing creature, and chuckled as its soul cracked. It slowly turned to dust, which blew away on the wind.

-

_He saw a small skeleton with similar features to his brother. The monster was stark naked, and covered in scars, old and new. He shivered in the snow, sobbing. A gaping hole replaced most of his head._

_He saw his brother approach the pitiful creature, and begin to kick at his ribs and face. The smaller screamed and begged, unable to escape his abuser._

_The dream faded away._

_"You have to help him."_

Jazz woke up on the couch. He panicked for a moment, afraid that his lord would be angry at him for having been on the furniture, before remembering where he was. He sighed.

He knew he'd dreamt the night before. "wh-what was i-it about?" He asked himself quietly, under his breath.

He focused, and slowly, the dream played out in front of him.

The voice at the end was one he knew, but he wasn't sure from where. He did, however, know he could trust the speaker.

He looked over at Russel, who was asleep, leaning on him. He blushed. He looked up to see Comic walking down the stairs, yawning.

"h-h-hey, co-omic."

"'mornin' jazz." The shorter skeleton looked at him strangely for a moment. "somethin' buggin' ya?"

"w-well, u-um... so-sort of?"

"is it okay if i ask what it was?"

"i-i guess..." Papyrus sighed. "i-i-i saw another skeleton... h-he looked like y-you, but sm-smaller and... h-he wasn't wearing anything b-b-but a c-collar... he was h-hurt... and freezing in the snow... and... m-my brother showed u-u-up... h-he started to h-hurt him..." he stopped for a moment. "i'm sc-scared that it's re-real... i d-don't w-w-want my b-brother to hurt a-anyone else..."

Comic thought for a moment. "was there anything else?"

"y-yeah... there was a v-v-voice at the end... i-i kn-knew it f-f-from somewhere... i-it told me to h-he-help the s-ske-eleton."

Comic sighed. "well i guess we need to get back into your universe to do that..." he shifted awkwardly. "is it okay if i ask you something?" He asked.

"wh-what i-is it...?"

"um... i know this a lot to ask but... can you tell me what your brother did to make you so... afraid?"

Jazz whimpered quietly.

"sorry... it's okay if you don't want to tell me."

"n-n-no, i-it's okay..." Jazz closed his eye sockets. "y-you've already d-d-done so much f-for me... i-if y-you really want to kn-know, i-i'll tell you."

"only if you're completely sure you're okay with telling me... are you?"

"y-yeah... s-so... wh-where should i start...?"

"the beginning, i guess."

"o-okay..." Jazz took a deep breath. "w-we gr-grew up in sn-snowdin. i don't r-r-remember anything b-before then... e-eventually we s-saved enough to b-buy a h-house, so w-we had somewhere to l-live. m-my b-b-brother r-really wanted t-to be i-in the r-royal guard when he was smaller... h-he trained r-really h-hard... when he g-got in, i-i was so p-proud... h-he was so happy, b-but... the guard changed him... he got u-used to the v-violence of the undergr-ground... he eventually fou-fought the c-captain and won.

"th-that was when it went downhill... h-he started to get angry easily... at first h-he just i-insulted m-me. the l-longer h-he was c-captain... the w-worse it g-got... eventually h-he started h-hitting me wh-when he got angry, b-b-but i tho-ought he was just st-stressed, and was trying to make me st-stronger. i-i didn't do anything... i-i started to believe what he said about m-me... o-one day, i-i got kidnapped while i was doing sentry duty. They wanted me to tell them how they could get at sans, since he had so much power.

"one of them broke off one of my ribs, and another s-s-stabbed m-my soul and then squeezed it... the needle went all the way through.... i-i-it hurt s-s-so much... then... one of them healed my s-soul... but they were clenching it in their fist really tightly... it healed wrong..." he whimpered at the memory. "a-a-after that... th-they put a collar on m-me... th-that was when my bro-brother came. he t-took me away from them, b-but he d-didn't take the c-collar off... he started to treat me like an a-animal... h-h-he made me f-follow h-hi-him on a-all fours o-on a leash whenever we were in t-town, and he th-threw a-away my bed and t-told me i couldn't get on any f-furniture. i c-couldn't fight him... i-it c-continued like th-that for a few w-weeks or so... "

Comic drew in a breath. How could any version of him be that... vile, that disgusting, especially to his brother?

"l-like i-i said, i-it continued for a f-few weeks... th-then o-one day i-i was on the w-way to work, a-and it was f-freezing o-outside... wh-when i g-got to my s-station, i-i-i c-curled up u-under it, tr-trying to get o-out of the w-wind...

"i-i s-stayed u-under the s-station f-for a long time... but then... _h-he_ showed up... h-he g-got r-really angry, but i-instead of b-beating m-m-me... h-he..." Jazz started to sob, tears falling down his cheeks. "h-he t-t-told me to t-t-teleport home... th-that was when... he... he..." he cut himself off, for a moment, trying in vain to calm down. "h-he _r-raped_ me..." he whispered.

Comic's eyesockets widened. _That... bastard!_ He sat next to the sobbing skeleton and pulled him into a tight hug. _How could he do that to his own_ ** _brother_** _!?_

"i-i'm so sorry..." he murmured, rubbing Jazz's back comfortingly.

Jazz flinched, but then melted into the hug, sobbing into Comic's jacket.  He felt another pair of arms wrap around him from the side.

"You're safe now..." Russel said. "He'll never hurt you again."

"th-thank you..."

Comic was alarmed that his brother had heard Jazz's whole story, but he said nothing, knowing it was more important to console the frail skeleton.

\- - -

Undyne burst into the lab. "P-papyrus! The h-human's about to f-face Toriel!"

Stretch sighed, turning away from the almost-complete machine. "and?"

"W-we have to go s-stop them from f-fighting!"

"you do that. i'm almost done, undyne. i can't stop now."

"Papyrus, please. Don't you want to help the human?"

"i don't even know them." Stretch contradicted, still trying to work on the machine.

"E-everyone else is already there. P-please, take a break just this once!" Undyne practically begged.

"you know i can't do tha-!" he was cut off as the lab was suddenly filled with powerful magic, stars and rainbows everywhere.

He felt his soul leave his body.

~meanwhile, by the barrier~

Chara watched in horror as Temmie cackled at them, the power of the souls helping the small monster transform into their true form.

Everything suddenly disappeared, besides a small, armless reptile-looking monster.

"Frisk? Are you there? It's me, your best friend!"

They changed again, and now they were towering above the child, smirking down at them.

"M. KID DREEMURR."

\- - -

When Stretch woke up back in the lab, he couldn't quite remember what happened the hour before. Undyne, who was still right in front of him, couldn't either.

They both stood there, confused, for a few minutes, before another monster ran into the lab.

"UNDYNE!"

"A-alphys?"

"THE BARRIER IS BROKEN!!!"

"Wh-what!?"

"It's gone! The human broke it somehow! We can go to the surface!"

"R-really!?" She turned to Stretch. "Did you hear that!?"

Stretch smiled half-heartedly, but his expression dropped soon after.

"Papyrus?" Alphys asked.

"i'm not going to the surface without my brothers." Stretch turned back to the machine.

"P-Papyrus..."  Undyne tried, looking a him sadly.

"i'm so close to being done, undyne. i'll come to the surface when i'm ready."

Undyne sighed. "F-fine. J-just remember to take care of y-yourself." She turned and left, her girlfriend following soon after.

Stretch wasn't sure how long he worked after that. He just knew that sometime, awhile later, he finished.

He felt a thrill as he turned the machine on. The portal appeared soon after, and without hesitaion, he stepped through.

He arrived in a lab, not unlike the one he had just left. The portal closed behind him, and he looked around. The lights were off, and no one seemed to be there.

He walked out of the lab and found himself in Hotland. So wherever I am, it has basically the same as the layout as home... he thought, heading towards where he knew Snowdin was.

As he entered waterfall, he looked around for any differences. There didn't seem to be any... he passed the area without any problems, and was soon at the doorstep of what looked like his house.

Hesitantly, he brought his hand up and knocked on the door. Footsteps came from inside, and when the door opened, he found himself face to face with... himself. The other him looked like he'd been crying.

"Oh my...." the other Papyrus stares at him. He called back into the house. "Ummm... Sans? I think there's _Anothe_ r me...?" He looked back at Stretch. "Sooooo..... ummmm... Come in, I guess?"

Stretch walked into the living room behind the other skeleton, and looked around. Sure enough, there was another Papyrus on the couch, seemingly crying. A doppelgänger of his brother we consoling him, and looked pretty close to tears, himself. Stretch found himself unsure of what to say.

The Sans copy spoke up. "so, um... who are you?"

"um... i'm papyrus, but i guess you already knew that..."

"yeah... um... i'm sans, or comic.." he gestured at the Papyrus who opened the door. "that's my bro."

The other Papyrus gave a little wave. "Just call me Russel." He pointed at the one on the couch. "That's Jazz... "

'Jazz' looked like he was scared.

"sooo... why are you here?" Comic asked.

Stetch sighed. "i'm looking for my brothers..."

"brothers?" Comic raised an eyebrow.

"blue and red. they're both sanses... red's more of an adopted brother. kinda how jazz is, i'd guess?"

"huh..."

"wh-what does r-r-red look like?" Jazz asked, remembering his dream.

"well... he's really short. shorter than you, comic... he's got sh-sharp teeth, and one of them is gold. there's a crack in one of his eye sockets, too."

Jazz's eyelights shrank, and he looked down. "i-i think i kn-know where h-he is..."

Stretch looked up at him sharply. "you do?"

"h-h-he's..." The skeleton shrank up a bit. "he's with m-m-my brother..." He hugged his knees. "th-this i-isn't good..." 

Comic's eyes widened. "oh no..."

"u-um.. who is your brother, exactly?"

Jazz curled up, whimpering and trembling. "h-h-he..."

Comic glanced at him sadly. "is it okay if i tell him? i don't think you should have to relive it again..."

Jazz nodded, tearing up. Russel hugged him and rubbed his back.

Comic walked outside and motioned for Stretch to follow. Stretch obliged, and was soon sitting outside on the step next to him.

Stretch sighed. "i-is he that bad?"

Comic nodded, looking away. "he's... extremely abusive... f-from what i know, he doesn't regard his brother as a real person... he treated him like scum... when we found him, h-he hadn't eaten in three weeks, and he said the last thing he ate was _dog food_... his brother made him call him "m'lord"."

Stretch paled. "o-oh no..."

Comic looked the other way again. "he also r-raped him.... m-multiple times..."

Stretch covered his mouth with his hand, tearing up. "r-red..."

Comic put a hand on his shoulder. "w-we'll save him. i-i promise."

"h-he's already been through so much..." Stretch felt his tears begin to fall faster.

"would you.. tell me about him?" Comic asked.

Stretch wiped some of his tears away. "we found him in the snow in the forest. he was unconscious and wounded... we took him home and healed him up.."

"we?"

"blue and i... blue's my brother. h-here, i have a picture." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned it on to show Comic the lock screen. It was a picture of Blue and Stretch. Both were smiling, and Blue was reaching up behind Stretch's head to give him bunny ears. "anyways. red's brother was also abusive... when the little guy woke up, he was terrified of me... he did end up trusting me later, but it took a long time. i loved him like a brother... probably more... heh... we were partners." He felt tears coming on. "wh-what exactly did jazz say he saw in the dream?"

Comic looked the other way. "he said... he said he saw red freezing in the snow... and his brother came up and started beating him..."

Papyrus covered his face with his hands. "this wouldn't have happened if i had protected him better..." he started to cry.

Comic reached over and pulled him into a hug. A moment later, he felt arms wrap around him as Stretch hugged him back and sobbed brokenly into his shoulder.

Comic rubbed circles in his back, hoping to calm him. "shh... it's gonna be okay... we'll save him..."

Stretch felt his eyes droop. _when was the last time i slept?_

He felt a few more tears slip down his cheeks before his tired body slipped into the comfortable depths of sleep.

Comic felt the taller skeleton relax completely.

"you okay,  buddy?"

He got no response. He pushed Stretch off of himself and looked at his face. Tear streaks ran down his cheeks, and he had dark circles his eyes. _when was the last time this guy slept?_

He picked him up and opened the door.

Russel looked at him. "Is he okay?"

Comic nodded. "he's just tired. he cried himself to sleep..."

Russel sighed. "Poor guy..."

Comic nodded. "it's almost worse if you know that he and red were partners..."

\- - -

"We need to bring him here after I reset. Then we can heal him and take him to the ruins." Chara held their hand over the button.

"Wait... What if I forget?" Muffet asked, still unsure about the plan.

"Temmie will come here before I get here to make sure you remember."

"Okay..." Muffet said, still unsure.

"If we fail, we can always reset and try again." Temmie reassured.

Muffet nodded. "Okay." She sounded a bit more sure.

Chara pushed the button.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaand there you are! Another chapter of this messed up fanfiction, just for you, dear readers.  
> Please give me feedback and comments 
> 
> I love those 
> 
> They're awesome


	10. X

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohhhh why am i so hype for this chapter?
> 
> The world may never know... this is gonna be mostly swapfell-centric. Maybe completely, depending on if I can make it 3,000 words.... 
> 
> Also heres something nice:
> 
> Me: "I'm going to give the sad characters a taste of happiness and then rip it away from them!"
> 
> My bro: *in a disappointed and judging voice* "HUNTZ."
> 
> (Note: he didn't say Huntz, he said my real name, but whatever.)

 

Wait.... what?

The skeleton monster shivered in the cold. Hadn't it died?

Red whimpered and looked arou- Red! His name was Red! He almost cried at the realization that he had his memories back. He tentatively felt his skull. The hole was gone. He wiggled his toes- yes, toes! Connected to his perfectly functional feet! He grinned, but stayed silent. He felt his ripped shorts and jacket, still on him. Clothes! He could almost ignore the pain from his other injuries (which were still there) with the happiness that was flowing through him. ...until he realized what was about to happen.

_I have to attack Muffet again... and then..._

He whimpered. It was almost worse this time, when he knew what was going to happen.

He curled up, tears dripping down his face as he waited for Muffet to show up.

But... she didn't. Eventually, Sans walked out the door and kicked him to wake him up.

"Up, you useless dog." He growled.

Red yelped and stood shakily, limping behind Sans, who was now holding his leash and walking quickly towards town. He felt more tears falling, but didn't bother to wipe them away, just following lifelessly after Sans.

He zoned out a bit, lost in the pain in his cracked and frozen limbs.

Suddenly, he was thrown against something. It seemed they had reached the station. He was dropped to the ground and whimpered as the pain caught up to him.

"Don't you dare fall asleep." Sans ordered, dragging him a bit to tie his leash to the station.

After a kick to Red's ribs, Sans left.

\- - -

Chara dodged another fireball.

"Asgore, I just need to do something... I promise, I'll be back." They tried.

"My child, I cannot let you leave..." Despite his answer, the resolve on his face seemed to ebb away a bit. He hesitated with his next attack. "What do you even need to do?"

"I need to help someone... I need to bring them here..."

Asgore didn't seem to like that idea.

"You can trust them, I promise."

"How do you even know them?"

"It's hard to explain.. I need to go now..."

"...Fine."

They hugged him. "Thank you! I promise I'll be back!"

They walked towards the door, opening it and hurrying out into Snowdin Forest. They soon reached the station, and waited quietly behind the fallen tree.

They watched Sans walk into view and throw the smaller skeleton at the station, before tying the leash to it, kicking him in the ribs, and leaving him there. The tiny skeleton shivered, hugging his knees.

Chara ran out towards him.

"H-hey, you need to come with me."

He flinched violently, before getting a good look at their face. "y...y-you! y-y-you r...really sh-shouldn't b-be he...ere..."

Chara undid the collar from around the other's neck. "You know me?" They helped the monster stand up.

"you g-ga-" he coughed up some bone marrow. "y-you gave m-me food..."

"You remember that?" They threw one of the skeleton's arms over their shoulder to support him.

"y-yeah... th-th-thanks for tha...at..."

"No problem..."

"wh... wh-why a...are you he-h-helping me...?" He didn't quite trust them, but anywhere was better than with Sans.

"Because no one should have to live like you were..."

"wh-wh-whe..ere are w-we-" he coughed again. "go-oing?"

"Somewhere safe."

He didn't say anything else while they walked.

They soon reached the front door of an unfamiliar house. Chara knocked on it.

A spider monster opened it.

"m-m-mu...uffet!" Red stared at her, surprised.

She beckoned them inside and shut the door. Chara stood there awkwardly for a moment.

Muffet pointed at the couch."Have a seat. I'll get some clothes and bandages."

Chara helped Red over to the couch. They sat down next to him and looked around.

Muffet returned with some clothes and bandages. She set them down on the couch next to Chara.

"Actually... you may want to wash up first..." She said, looking at Red.

Red shrugged.

"I think you probably should..." Chara agreed.

"o-okay..." Red stood awkwardly.

"Do you need help?" Muffet asked.

Red shook his head quickly. "n-n-no! i-i mean... i-i go...ot it..."

"Okay." Muffet pointed down the hall. "The bathroom's right there."

Red nodded and grabbed the clothes. He then walked awkwardly to the bathroom, stumbling a bit and using the wall for support. He opened the bathroom door and walked in, shutting it behind him. He made his way slowly to the shower (which was also a bath tub), and turned it on, waiting for the water to warm up. Slowly, he pulled his jacket and shorts off, careful not to catch them on any jagged pieces of bone. Dropping them on the floor, he stepped into the shower. The warm water felt like heaven, warming his freezing bones up, and making the frozen bone marrow all over him melt off.

He grabbed a wash cloth off a bar and began to scrub the caked bone marrow off his bones. After awhile, all of it was off. Some of his injuries were leaking bone marrow again, as they were no longer covered, but Red wasn't concerned. He decided not to use any soap, happy enough with the fact that there was no bone marrow covering him anymore. The skeleton turned the shower off and stepped out, grabbing a towel and drying himself off, careful not to get any of the fresh bone marrow on it. He hung the towel back up and grabbed the clothes from where he'd set them on the counter. He slowly pulled the pants on, again being careful to not catch the fabric. He took the shirt and pulled it over his head, wincing as it brushed against an open wound on his ribs. The small monster felt more covered than he had in weeks.

Red picked up his old shorts and jacket and limped out the door, heading back to the living room. Chara and Muffet were seated on the couch, and looked up at him as he entered the room. He limped over to the couch and joined them on it.

Chara stared at him. He looked extremely thin without the layers of dust caked on him. His scars were also more apparent.

Muffet grabbed the bandages and looked at him. "So... um... what needs to be bandaged?"

Red shrugged. He was so warm and comfortable... and exhausted... he hadn't been this warm since.... since... he whimpered slightly as the thought of Stretch came up.  He sighed and felt his eyes slip shut. He slowly fell asleep, his tired and broken body relaxing into the couch.

"Well... they're tired...." Muffet said, looking at Chara.

Chara nodded. "Here, let me see the bandages..."

Muffet handed them to the child, and they pulled up Red's shirt and began to bandage his ribs. They dropped his shirt and pulled his pant leg up so it showed the crack on his femur. It was leaking bone marrow. They wrapped a bandage tightly around the crack.

Red whimpered in his sleep and curled up a bit.

They began to bandage the many cuts and smaller cracks all over his body.

"I think that's all we can do... we can bring him to the ruins tomorrow morning..."

Muffet nodded.

-

Red opened his eyes and looked around. He was in the void again.

"d-dad?" He squinted, trying to find the two skeletons. "d-dings?"

He heard a voice behind him.

"Red!" He was hit from behind by someone, and found himself being hugged tightly by his father.

He flinched violently. "h-hey, dad..."

"We were so worried!"

Red raised an eyebrow. "um.... wh-why?"

G pulled back from the hug and stared at him. "You don't remember!?"

He shook his head. "i-i told you... i can't remember anything from when i'm awake..."

"Oh... We thought since you didn't have that other collar anymore, you could remember things..."

Red shrugged.

"Well... y-you died..."

"o-oh. d-did sans d-do it...?"

G nodded, his breathing shaky.

Dings walked towards them and crouched down. "I don't know how much this will help, since you won't remember this when you're awake, but... we saw Stretch..."

"y-you did!? is he okay?" Red asked, hope filling his eye sockets.

Dings nodded. "He went to another universe... the one my son is in, actually... and... they know where you are now."

Red smiled. "i'm just glad he's okay..."

G hugged him again. "He wants to get you back..."

"c-can i... see him?"

Dings sighed. "He's asleep right now..."

"o-oh..."

"But... we can send him dreams... it won't be very clear to him after he wakes up, but we might be able to let you two talk..."

"r-really!?"

G nodded. "We're not completely sure how it works, though..."

"p-please, try!" Red said, hope filling his eyesockets.

Both G and Dings stood up.

"Okay..." G's eyes flashed red.

Dings's eyes flashed yellow. A window was opened, looking down at Stretch, who was asleep on the couch. Both skeletons' magic flared for a moment, before the window disappeared.

Right where it was, Stretch was now laying on the nonexistent ground.

Red gasped and ran over to him. He pulled him into a tight hug. "s-stretch!"

Stretch started, before realizing who it was. "r-red..?"

Red nodded and buried his head in Stretch's hoodie. The taller skeleton gasped and hugged him back, his breathing becoming shaky.

"r-red... i've missed you s-so much..."

"i-i missed you, too..."

"are you okay? jazz said you were wounded badly..."

Red sighed. "i think i was... i don't really remember much of what happens when i'm awake... dings and g could probably explain things better..."

"who...?" Stretch looked confused.

Red stood and led him over to the two skeletons, who were, at the moment, just staring at them. As soon as Stretch saw them, his expression darkened, and his eye flashed bright orange.

Red ran between him and the other two. "wh-what are you doing?"

Stretch looked between Red and the two Gasters. He almost looked scared.

"r-red... have they hurt you?"

Red's eyes widened. "n-no! g's my dad, he w-w-wouldn't do that... d-dings is jazz's dad..."

Stretch stared at the Gasters distrustfully.

G raised an eyeridge. "I don't think we are who you think we are... did your father do something bad?"

"if you're his father... then who is his other parent?" Stretch asked, avoiding his question.

"I created my sons in my lab, for experimentation purposes, but I didn't expect them to be sentient. Once I knew they were, I stopped the whole experiment immediately, and adopted both of them as my sons."

Stretch looked at Red, who nodded. "h-he never hurt either of us."

"It was the same in my universe." Dings said.

Stretch relaxed a bit, but still stayed on guard.

"w-was your father different?" Red asked.

"yes. he... h-he never cared that we were sentient. he went through with the experimenting anyways..." fear and slight anger could be heard, mixed in with the mostly forced calmness of his voice.

Both G and Dings went pale.

"Oh... I... I'm so sorry..." G voiced both of their thoughts.

Stretch looked away. "it wasn't your fault."

Red stepped towards him and hugged him. Stretch looked down at the tiny skeleton and smiled slightly, returning the action.

"anyways... red said you could tell me what happened?"

"Oh! That we can... it's a really messed up series of events, though... are you sure you want to hear it?" Dings asked.

Stretch nodded, and sat down where he was standing. Red stepped towards him and sat down next to him, scooting closer and cuddling into him.

G sighed and took a seat as well, Dings soon following suit. "I'll start then... Red said that after you and Blue died, he killed his brother..." Dings said, looking away slightly.

Red flinched and leaned into Stretch, burying his face in the taller skeleton's hoodie.

"He fell asleep in the snow holding your hoodie and Blue's scarf..."

"That was when my son showed up." Dings continued. "This was a few weeks after my other son, Papyrus, left the universe... Sans wanted to replace him... I guess you'd need to know that he was very... abusive towards Papyrus..."

Stretch looked away. "i know. comic... um... the sans from the universe jazz is in... told me.

The skeleton hesitated for a moment, then continued. "He didn't seem to care when he... um... died...

"He found Red in the snow and took him... I assume it was to replace Papyrus. I never thought it was possible to treat anyone worse than he did Pa- um... Jazz... but he found a way... It was... really... bad... Muffet tried to help him once, actually... but Sans was used to her being the one trying to help Jazz, when he was still around, and knew where to find him... that and I think there's a tracker in the collar he had on Red... That was after he gave him the... new collar... I can explain that later."

G sighed sadly, slowly convincing himself to continue where Dings left off. "When he found them... he was very angry. Red ended up with a hole in his skull and a missing foot..."

Red flinched and cuddled a bit more into Stretch at this, not remembering the event itself, but feeling a ghost of the immense fear and pain. Stretch stiffened and hugged him closer, nuzzling his skull.

"Um... anyways, he... He tied Red's leash to a tree, and... threw him into the rapids at Snowdin river... His foot got lodged in a crevice and when he got swept around.... h-his femur snapped right above his patella... then when Sans pulled him out of the river... he... d-dusted him." G looked away. "luckily, though, a human was in the underground at that time, and it seems they wanted to help, and had the power to turn back time- we've been calling it 'resetting'. So Red was back, and, although still badly hurt... he was way better condition than before. Chara took him to Muffet's house, and they patched him up. He fell asleep, then showed up here. I think they plan to take him to the ruins when he wakes up."

Red, still trembling from the fear filling his soul, looked up. "th-the ruins?"

"Yes... Sans shouldn't be able to find to you there." Dings answered.

Stretch thought for a moment. "...you said something about a collar?"

G nodded. "Sans had a plain dog collar on him for a while, but after a few weeks... he decided it wasn't enough, and... got a new one... I think Undyne- the royal scientist in this universe- made it for him.

"It can tap into red's magic... and basically make him do whatever Sans wants him to... Also... I guess it can take away memories? In the last timeline- before the human reset- Sans took all of his memories away... that's why he can't remember what happens when he's awake. He can't remember these dreams either, so when he's awake, he probably won't remember that he saw you..."

"oh..." Stretch hugged Red closer to him.

Red sighed. "y-yeah... th-they thought i'd be able to r-remember things since the c-collar is gone, but.... i-i still can't."

G sighed, before thinking of something. "Oh! I almost forgot! Stretch, your brother... um... I'd guess you'd be worried but we saw him, and he's fine. He's with Red's brother at the moment."

Stretch flinched. "wh-!"

Red interrupted him softly. "h-he's fine. m-my brother hasn't hurt him... i saw him..."

Dings nodded. "He's different now... There was a reset in his universe too, but Red wasn't there... the universe did what it could to fill the gap he left in its code, but... it seems he was erased from the timeline's memory. So Papyrus doesn't remember him. He found Red's basement lab though, and wondered what and whose it was... He was trying to figure things out when your brother showed up."

Stretch rose an eyeridge. "that's weird..."

Red nodded. "y-yeah... blue's trying to help him now... a-and... i-i guess i wrote some things and left them in that lab... and they stayed there... h-he'd figured out how things were between us... b-before i met you and blue... a-and blue's reaction to seeing him only proved it... i-it seems like he r-regrets it... e-even if he doesn't remember..."

Stretch sighed. "i still don't trust him, but as long as my bro is okay, i guess it's fine."

Red smiled and hugged the taller skeleton. "th-they'll p-probably find a way to-" suddenly, the small skeleton disappeared.

Stretch's eyes widened and he looked around quickly. "where'd he go!?" he looked at the Gasters. "what did you do!?"

G shook his head quickly. "He woke up. We can't control when things happen..."

Dings waved his hand,  and in a flash of yellow magic, a window appeared in front of them, looking down at three figures on a couch.

-  
Muffet sighed, leaning her head back on the couch and staring at the ceiling. It was a few minutes before ten in the morning, and the small skeleton on the other side of the couch had yet to wake up. Chara, next to her, tapped their fingers on their knees and staring off into space. Muffet turned her head a bit as the small skeleton shifted and made a small whimper-like noise. Chara looked over as well, and the two watched in silence as the other monster opened his eyes, looking at them blearily. He said nothing, just stared at them, waiting quietly for one of them to say something.

"Are you feeling better now...?" Muffet asked.

He nodded, smiling slightly. 

"We should probably go. We can't stay here too long, or _he'll_ find us."

Red whimpered and flinched at the thought of Sans, but nodded and stood up shakily. Chara and Muffet followed suit, Chara stretching and walking to the door. "Are you going to come with us, or...?"

Muffet sighed. "Well, I want to help... so... I guess I will... You can reset if It goes wrong, right?"

Chara nodded, and Muffet though for a moment. 

"Okay."

The two monsters and the human filed out the door, and headed for Snowdin forest, avoiding the main paths. Chara led them past the outskirts of town, leading them further into the woods, until they reached a large wall of rock, which the human led them along. Soon, they came out into the path in front of the large purple door. Chara raised their hand and knocked slowly.

"Who is there?" came a voice from the other side.

"It's me..." Chara replied. "Can we come in?"

The door opened slowly, and the tall goat monster looked out at them, looking them over. Slowly, he stepped aside and let them pass.

"I wasn't sure if you were actually going to come back, Chara... Who are your friends?"

Chara gestured at Red. "This is... oh, crap... I don't know whether I got your name...If I did... I forgot..."

Red flinched at being addressed, then gulped and opened his mouth to respond. "m-m-my name is r-red..."

Chara smiled. "Well, Red...  I'm Chara."

Red shifted back and forth between his feet, looking around awkwardly. Chara looked back at Asgore. 

"Anyways, this is Red, and this is Muffet."

Muffet waved one of her six hands.

"Well, it's nice to meet both of you, I guess. I am Asgore, caretaker of these ruins." He held out his hand to Muffet, who shook it gently.

"Nice to meet you, too, Asgore." She said.

Red gave a slight smile and dipped his head to acknowledge the goat, not wishing to speak. Asgore smiled back, and began walking down the long hallway ahead.

"Come, I will take you to my home."

The other three followed quietly, the two monsters, having not been there before, looked around at the purple brick walls. Asgore led them up a flight of stairs, and at the top they found a plain looking house, with wooden floors and a calming, neutral aura. Red looked around warily, unsure of his surroundings.

The goat monster led them into the living room, pulling over a few chairs from the table before flopping back into the armchair by the empty fireplace. Upon noticing that it was empty, he pointed a finger at it, and a stream of fire shot from his hand, igniting the wood and bathing the room in warmth.

"Have a seat, friends." he said, gesturing at the other chairs. 

Chara hopped up onto the chair next to him, smiling and swinging their short legs, which couldn't quite reach the floor. Muffet sat on the other side of them. Instead of taking a chair, Red sat down next to the fireplace, enjoying the warmth radiating from the magic fire.

Asgore cleared his throat. "I hope you don't mind my asking a few questions... I still do not quite understand some things..."

Muffet shrugged. "I don't mind. Red?"

Red looked at her. "n-no, i-i don't mind either."

Asgore smiled. "Thank you. Firstly, and I don't mean to sound rude, but I would like to know why exactly you came here." 

Red flinched and whimpered a bit. Muffet looked at him sadly for  a moment, before thinking about how to word her answer.

"Well... we're here because Red needed to get away from where he was, and this was the best place we could think of that his... tormentor wouldn't be able to find him..."

"...And who exactly is this tormentor?" Asgore asked.

Red looked up at him. "h-h-his name is s-sans... h-he's the c-captain of the royal g-guard... H-he sort of... k-kidnapped me and made me his.." he shuddered. "..pet..." The small skeleton whimpered quietly.

Asgore stared at him for a moment, shock and anger flitting across his face, before responding. "Why would he want to have another person as his pet...?"

"I think he wanted to replace his o-old pet..." Muffet looked down.

"Who was that...?"

"His brother, Papyrus... I was one of his only friends... No one c-cared when he d-died... not even his own brother..." tears gathered in her eyes. "he d-didn't deserve what he g-got.... he was a g-good person."

Asgore's eyes widened before he closed them for a moment, as if trying to hold back tears. "Oh... I had no idea... I-i knew him... I never saw him, but... we would tell each other knock knock jokes th-through the door to Snowdin... he always sounded so sad... I-i didn't know why, but I... I wanted to help him... eventually he just.. stopped coming... That was a few months ago, though..."

Muffet sighed, sniffing and wiping her tears away with her sleeve. "Sans probably made him stop... he was very... strict..."

Asgore stayed silent for a few minutes, before sighing. "I guess he's in a better place now..."

(little did he know, he was completely and utterly correct-)

Muffet nodded sadly.

Asgore stood. "I'm... going to go make you all a meal... you seem hungry... especially you, Red."

Red flinched at being mentioned, but smiled awkwardly. He watched the goat monster retreat into the kitchen. 

Muffet thought for a moment. "So... um... Red... If I may ask... where are you from...? I didn't think there were any other skeletons in the underground than the ones in Snowdin..."

The small skeleton froze.

The spider sighed. "You don't have to answer if you don't want..."

Red shook his head quickly. "n-n-no... i-it's f-fine... you've done so much for me... i-i owe you."

Muffet looked at him. "Are you sure? You really don't have to say anything.

"n-no. i-i will..." He though for a second, taking a breath. "y-you w-were right when you said there were no other skeletons in the underground... i'm not from here. i'm... w-well... i'm from another universe. m-my name isn't really red... that's a nickname. b-b-but i-it's not for p-pretending to be someone else, i-i promise... i-i need to explain.... u-um... well... m-my name is s-sans... i-i u-used to live in my u-universe, with my brother, p-... p-papyrus... o-our world w-was kill or be killed, and... i was weak... but papyrus was s-strong, and q-quickly became the head of the royal guard. h-he... he started being harder on me then. h-he made me wear a c-collar with a-a leash... i-i f-fell asleep at my post o-one day, a-and he found me and got angry.. h-he started b-beating me, which i was u-used to, but this time i... i-i thought i was g-going to d-dust, s-s-so i-i teleported a-away. i-i didn't e-end up where i m-meant t-to... i-i sh-showed up in a-another universe... i-it was s-so much n-nicer than wh-what i was used to... th-the version of p-papyrus there found me, and healed me up and t-took me home... h-he called me red so he w-wouldn't m-mix me up with his b-brother. h-he nicknamed him b-blue. i-i c-called him stretch, s-since i... d-didn't want to think he had the s-same name as m-my b-brother... b-but a-anyways... th-the both t-treated m-me like f-family, a-and i-i was s-so happy... i-i loved them both s-so much... a-and i-i loved stretch m-maybe a l-little more than b-brotherly l-love...

"b-but... m-my brother... h-he f-found us, and h-he was gonna kill s-stretch.... i-i l-let him t-take me back th-there, b-but... i-i d-didn't l-listen to h-him l-like before, and... h...h-he took me back to stretch's universe and... h-h-he..." Red's voice went up an octave and got softer as he choked out the next few words. "h-he killed th-them... b-both of th-them a-and he just l-laughed a-and... i-i c-c-couldn't..." a  few sobs ripped from his frail body. "i-i was s-so angry... i-i just... i d-didn't realize what i-i was doing b-but i-i just d-didn't w-want h-him th-there, and.... _i-i k-killed him, i killed my own b-brother....._ " he curled up and sobbed into his knees. "a-and i-i just... i j-just l-laid there in the sn-snow and p-passed out.... i-i guess th-that's wh-when s-sans found m-me... a-and h-he j-just..."

Muffet stood and walked over to the shuddering form by the fireplace. "O-oh m-my god.... Red, I-I'm so sorry..."

Red struggled to talk between his broken sobs, breathing raggedly and hugging his knees. "i-it's n-not your f-fault."

The spider knelt down and wrapped her arms around the small skeleton, making him flinch a bit before relaxing into the hug and lifting his arms to hug her back. He sobbed into her shoulder, his bones trembling even more now. Slowly, he fell asleep, his broken body already exhausted from the day.

\- - -

The group had stayed at Asgore's place for two days when things went downhill.

\- - -

He heard a crash. He saw Chara looking at him and waving him away from the wreckage of the door.

"Red, _run_!" He heard them yell.

He ran. He ran as quickly as he could, away from the threat. Away from his friends. Away from the terrifying thought of losing himself again. He heard footsteps coming after him, getting closer and closer... still, he ran, terrified. He ran and ran and ran until... he was caught. A bone knocked him over and another shot down through his scapula, nailing him to the floor. He screamed.

"Didn't I make my point clear, you dog?

He felt the bone in his scapula twist and yelped.

" _Don't run from me._ " Sans growled.

Red whimpered. He felt the bone in his back dematerialize.

"Sit up."

He pushed himself into a sitting position.

Sans grabbed the side of his face and tilted it up, exposing his neck.

He felt something wrap around his cervical vertebrae. Sans let go of his face and fastened the collar around Red's neck. The smaller skeleton whimpered.

"Heel."

Sans began to walk away. The collar flashed purple for a moment, and Red followed after him. His eyesockets were empty. They exited the ruins through the big door, which was now a large pile of rubble. When they reached the house, he was dragged through the door and into the living room. His empty eyesockets widened.

"n-n-no, ma-master, p-please..."

He almost felt relieved when Sans only pulled a phone out of his pocket and called someone.

"Yes, hello, Napstatron... Have you been looking for another... ahem... _lucky contestant_ for your show?"

A voice could be heard on the other side of the line, but it was so muffled that Red couldn't quite understand what they were saying.

"Great. Oh, tonight? That's perfect! I'll bring it straight over." He hung up.

Red whimpered.

"Quiet, mutt."

He felt his ribs get kicked. A leash was connected to his collar.

"Up." The collar flashed purple again.

Red stood and followed him out the door. He walked behind him out of Snowdin, being tugged cruelly every time Sans felt he was being too slow. He was pulled through the underground, not paying attention to his surroundings. He let himself get lost in his thoughs.

Soon, they reached some sort of... hotel...? A robot monster stood outside it, and grinned when he saw Sans.

"Hello there, Sansy. Is this the lucky monster?"

Sans grinned at the robot. "Yep. It was being insubordinate... It needs to be punished and you need a contestant, so win-win!"

The robot chuckled and ushered them inside. "Do you wish to stay for it?"

Sans smirked. "Of course. I trust you'll be broadcasting this through the whole underground?"

Napstatron grinned: "You know it. Come along. Let's get our lucky guest ready.

Red whimpered.

\- - -

He was on some sort of stage, now, in front of a huge crowd of monsters. A gag was stuffed cruelly into his mouth, and his wrists were tied behind him. He was standing in a cage, next to Napstatron. He knew his master stood off to the side, eager to watch what was about to take place.

He didn't know exactly what was going to happen to him, but he knew it was going to hurt. He whimpered.

Napstatron spoke.

"Heellllooooo, underground! And thank you for tuning in to tonight's three-hour special! Here with us on this beeaaauuutiful night, we have the captain of the royal guard's pet! Now from what ol' Sansy said, it's been acting a bit naughty..." the robot glanced at Red and he flinched, lowering his eyes.

He zoned out a bit, trying to ignore what the robot was saying. After a few minutes, he seemed to be done talking.

He approached the cage and opened it. "Come on out, dog."

Red shuddered and took a step out of the cage. He decided to listen. Maybe it would make his situation a bit better...

He felt something starp stab into his arm, and flinched. He glanced at where he'd felt the sensation and saw that Napstatron was emptying a syringe into his humerus.

"This was invented by the royal scientist, Undyne herself! It'll make sure our little friend here won't die."

The crowd cheered. Red whimpered.

"Now... I guess it's time to start?"

The crowd cheered louder.

He kicked Red's ankles, causing him to fall. He yelped. Napstatron placed his foot on Red's back.

The small skeleton whimpered and laid limply, waiting in horrified silence.

"Alright, audience! You can choose! A post has been put on Undernet on my profile! Comment on it, and I'll see which suggestions I like the most!" He kicked Red's rib cage, smirking as the skeleton let out a strangled sob and whimpered in pain.

"...What should we do first...?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ::::::)))))))
> 
> :)
> 
> =)
> 
> I hope you enjoyed! *evil laugh*
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you in the next update!
> 
> Also....
> 
> So.... what should we do to Red? (this is where you comment. I already got a few demented ideas, but if i like one someone comments, I will use it.)
> 
> =)
> 
> Good day.


	11. XI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyy yo I'm actually updating now!
> 
> Welp, I got nothin' to say, so enjoy le chapter!

 

Stretch woke up on the couch, looking around and trying to figure out where he was. He remembered the day before after a moment, and sighed. He rubbed his eyesockets for a few seconds, before freezing as a muddled memory of his dream trickled into his mind. He sat up.

"Oh! Good morning, Stretch!" A jovial voice came from the kitchen.

Stretch didn't respond, still thinking about Red.

Russel's head peeked out from the small wall between the living room and kitchen. "Are you okay...?"

Stretch started and looked over at him. "oh, um... i'm fine, i just had a... weird dream."

Russel nodded. "My brother has 'weird dreams' sometimes. He never wants to tell me what they're about, so I won't ask you about it... but just remember you can talk about it to anyone here, okay?"

Stretch smiled and nodded. "thanks..."

Comic walked down the stairs, yawning. "oh, would you look at that. sleepin' beauty's arisen! we can finally use the couch for its intended purpose." he grinned. "how was your nap?"

"it was good. thanks for lettin' me sleep on the couch."

The shorter skeleton nodded, and walked into the kitchen. "morning, bro."

Russel grinned. "Good morning, brother! Is Jazz awake yet?"

Comic shook his head. "still asleep. it's a good thing, though: it'll help 'im heal."

Russel nodded. "He needs that..." The tall skeleton thought for a moment. "You know, I don't know if this is a bad thing, but... since he got here, I've felt like... I don't know... every time he's been scared, I've wanted to hurt the one who hurt him... I've never wanted to hurt anyone before, but I just don't understand why he would want to do that to his own brother..."

"...i'm glad i'm not the only one, then." Comic answered.

Stretch sighed, knowing exactly how they felt.

"you okay, stretch? you seem pensive."

He shrugged. "i had this dream..."

\- - -

Undyne, back behind the show stage, adjusted her glasses as she waited for her queen to arive. She smiled as she heard the small skeleton she'd seen earlier scream from up onstage.

She shifted the weight of the canister she was holding, so she was holding it with both arms and it seemed less heavy.

The sound of heavy footsteps echoed through the room towards her. The moment the queen came into view, she dropped to one knee, setting the canister next to her.

"My queen." She bowed her head.

"Thank you, Undyne." Toriel responded.

The fish monster rose to her feet.

"Do you have what I wanted?"

"Yes, your majesty. They found the human earlier today." Undyne held the canister out to her, its red glow casting strange shadows around the room.

"It is time, then." Toriel took the canister. "Have your robot friend announce it at the end of his... er... show. I'll inform Sans, so he can round up the guard. I'm sure the rest of my subjects will be eager to help once they hear the news."

The scientist nodded and turned to leave.

Toriel began to walk to the side of the stage, where Sans stood, smiling at the sight of his pet getting what it deserved. She tapped his shoulder and he looked at her, bowing his head respectfully once he saw who it was.

"Yes, your majesty?" His face was serious, but another agonized scream from the stage made his good mood exponentially more obvious.

"You know we've now gathered what we need. Get the royal guard ready. Napstatron will tell the underground the news after his little show, and then we'll be ready enough."

Sans grinned and nodded. "By the way, what did you want done with the brat? We haven't killed them yet, but their soul is contained, so if we kill them, it won't hurt...."

Toriel thought for a moment. "You said your pet knew them somehow?"

Sans nodded.

"Have Napstatron include them. He'll know what to do. The audience will get a kick out of it, and it's the perfect thing to rile them up."

Sans smirked. "Will do."

Toriel smiled, and began to head back to the castle to prepare.

\- - -

Red whimpered as he was thrown onto some sort of metal platform, and struggled weakly until metal clasps were forced down, holding him by his wrists, ankles, and neck. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Napstatron kneel and adjust something under the table. The table below him began to warm up, and the robot smirked.

"Aaaaaas you can see, dear audience, I've lit a fire under this metal table. And, well... what happens to metal when it heats up?"

The metal began to heat up under Red's bones. His eyesockets widened, and a whimper escaped his throat. It took a while, but soon the metal was burning hot, and at some point he'd started screaming, but he couldn't hear it over the pain, as he arched his back to escape the sheet of pure agony below him. He felt the robot's gloved hand rest on his rib cage and push him back down against the now dimly glowing metal. Tears of pain dripped from his eyesockets, and sizzled when they plopped down onto the table. The searing pain in his bones only increased, and he breathed heavily, half screaming with every exhale.

Suddenly, the clasps came off and he was shoved off the table. Before he could move, he was dragged to some other area of the stage.   
He was pressed against a wall, and shackled to it. He went limp when he was dropped, eyes dark. The robot approached him, and pressed a knife against his arm, cutting deeply into it.  
He sobbed and tried to keep away, but could not budge his restraints. He whimpered. The robot drew a long line up Red's arm and around on his clavicle to his rib cage. He made a long slash to the bottom few ribs, and began to move the knife back and forth over the bottom rib like a saw. Red whimpered and clenched his teeth.

He didn't stop until he'd cut through the small skeleton's rib. He placed the knife in the cut and turned it sideways, before cutting the rib in half lengthways, exposing Red's bone marrow. He took hold of the top half of the split bone and snapped it off, causing the skeleton to let out a broken sob. He dropped the piece on the ground, letting it dust. After this, he produced a bottle of... something out of his pocket. (It had a label, but Red couldn't read well enough to know what it said.)

The robot held it up, and the screens above them showing what was happening zoomed in on it so the audience could see. There was much laughing and hooting in response to this, and Red's soul dropped at their reaction, knowing that it would be bad. The robot poised the plastic bottle over his bleeding lower rib, and flipped it over. He squeezed it, and something dripped out, landing on the rib. Red screamed in pain as it made contact with the broken bone. It stung. Bad.

The skeleton teared up and struggled, the searing pain in his bones spreading to cover most of his rib cage, even though there was nothing there to hurt him. He flinched as the robot stepped towards him and showed him the bottle, before removing the cap and replacing it with the head of a squirt bottle. Red stared at him, terrified, the cuts, scrapes, and breaks all over his body suddenly feeling all the more painful as he realized what Napstatron was going to do.

He closed his eyes tight as the robot aimed the nozzle of the bottle at him, and pulled the trigger, misting him with the agonizing substance. He heard the monster do this a few more times, but was already lost and blinded by the pure agony spreading over his body like an inescapeable veil.

He tried to gain any of his senses past the sheen of pain, but found himself unable. He screamed until his voice seemed to give out, and even then his mouth remained open, silently wailing.

His body convulsed as the pain seemed to become somehow more inescapeable, more horrible. The crowd cheered, and Napstatron laughed.

As it died down, Red went limp in his restraints, numb and exhausted. The cuffs were taken off, and he fell limply, shuddering and letting out a whimper that was more breath than anything else.

"Now, for another random choice from the requests!" The robot yelled into his microphone. He looked at his phone. "Aaaand this one is from one 'Heats Flamesman'. I'll pop it up on the screen so out contestant can have a surprise."

He approached the burnt, broken, and bloody creature. The quivering mess shied away.

"Get up, and come with me." He then turned to the crowd. "Heats, If you're here today, please come up to the stage."

There was much talking amongst the crowd, until a small man made of flames climbed up onto the stage.

Napstatron presented him with a box of something, at which the flame gawked.

" _I_ get to do it?" He asked giddily, jumping up and down.

The robot nodded, and snapped his fingers. A small portion of wall came up around ten feet in front os them, and Napstatron looked at Red.

"Stand in front of the wall, dog."

The skeleton grimaced and stood, a shock reaching him from his collar as the figure to the side of the stage decided he was being too slow. He whimpered and dragged himself to stand in front of the wall.

Heats grinned, and set the box down next to himself, picking a knife out of it. It was just a steak knife, nothing fancy, but it was sharpened to perfection, and even the sight of it was painful.

The flame aimed at Red's head and threw, missing him by a fraction of an inch, and making him flinch.

The firey man yelled over to him. "Better dodge, mutt."

He nodded slowly, and flinched violently away as another knife was thrown, sticking out from the wall right where his neck had been moments before. Heats laughed, and readied another knife.

After dodging around fifteen knives, Red stood panting, exhausted and shaking on his feet. He didn't notice the old, rusty knife the flame held in his hand. Heats pulled his arm back and threw it, Red looking up just in time to see the large knife fly into his eye socket. Both sockets grew wide, and he let out a strangled yelp, still unable to scream with his current lack of a strong enough voice.

Napstatron came over and pulled the knife out. It glistened with Red's blood. The skeleton sobbed silently as Heats was beckoned up to see the damage the knife had done.

The monster grinned and traced the wound with his finger, making Red whimper.

Napstatron smiled as well. "D'you suppose that'll get infected, friend?"

Heats grinned at him. "Probably. You saw how old the knife was..."

"We should get rid of the wound before that happens, then..."

Heats nodded, and watched the robot take hold of Red's head and smash it into the wall hard, cracking it open and shattering much of it. The shattered area spanned from the corner of his eye socket, to the top of his head, and about halfway down the back of his skull. He could no longer see from the eye socket."

Bone marrow sprung from the wound, and an immense, throbbing pain gathered in his skull. He brought his hands up and felt the jagged bone, wincing. Tears flowed down, and he sobbed at the pain.

Many more horrors befell him in the hour after that, and more pain resounded from each one. He didn't think it could get any worse, until two guards escorted someone onto the stage, and threw them down next to his bloody, beaten form. He looked up slightly, and saw their face.

"ch....a-ar...a...?" He forced out, coughing up more blood.

The child's eyes widened, and filled with tears. "Red..."

Napstatron meandered towards them, and stopped next to Chara, before dealing them a harsh kick to get them out of the way. The two guards grabbed them and restrained them, moving to let the child see Red.

"Aw... is this a friend of yours?"

Red looked at the human. "l-le...t th-th-them g-" he coughed painfully. "g-go..."

"Oh, I won't hurt them so long as you beg..."

The skeleton frowned. Just begging? That did not sound right.

"...for me to break your bones."

The crowd screamed in adoration of the idea. Red whimpered. Napstatron picked up a baseball bay from the shelf.

"This'll do." He looked at the two gaurds and nodded, at which they both took knives and cut off the human's sleeves, tearing the fabric off.

They began skinning Chara's arms slowly. The human screamed.

"n-no, n..o...  n-n-no, no, no..." Red begged. "h-hurt me instead, b...break my arms, d-d-dust them, shatter th-them, maim them, a-anything!"

Napstatron snapped his fingers, and the guards stopped. He raised the bat high and brought it down to hit Red's humerus, shattering it. He kept hitting it until it was mostly in shards on the ground. It was surprising the rest of his arm didn't dust. He held up his hand, ready to snap again and start the two guards on their work again, but Red interrupted him.

"th-the other one... b-break my other a..arm... p-p-please," he sobbed.

The robot grinned and stomped on his other radius and ulna, bruising both and causing one to snap. It continued like this for a long while, until there was nothing left of Red to break. Napstatron snapped his fingers, and the guards began to skin Chara once more. The human screamed.

"n-n-no! y-you s-said-" He coughed and gasped for breath. "y-you said y-you w-wo...wouldn't!"

His broken voice barely reached the robot over the child's screams.

"I said I wouldn't hurt them as long as you were begging, but now you have no more bones to break!"

The guards continued. Napstatron turned Red's head to face Chara and put his foot on top of it, forcing him to watch.

Chara screamed more, sobbing out and beggin for them to stop. Blood gushed from the deeper cuts, and dripped down their limbs.

After mere minutes of this, their struggling began to get slower and weaker from blood loss, and they soon went limp, unconscious and close to death. One of the guards pulled out his spear, and both dropped them down to the floor. The half-skinned human twitched in their unconsciousness, quickly losing more blood.

The guard swiftly stabbed them through their back, killing them.

A small amount of hope filled Red. _They can reset... they can turn it back and we can escape..._

...but nothing happened. Now that he thought of it, their soul hadn't appeared when they died. Had it been taken?"

His thoughts were interrupted as his broken body was picked up roughly, his soul blue, and his body encased in purple magic. Sans.

The powerful skeleton smirked and nodded at Napstatron, before throwing Red at a few walls, then dropping him.

He looked at the crowd. "If you haven't figured it out yet, we have some exciting news for you! That sniveling maggot over there," he pointed at Chara's body, "Was a human! The last one we needed, in fact. Our queen plans to absorb the souls and break the barrier as soon as possible, and we can wreak our revenge on the humans!"

The crowd gasped and cheered loudly. Red's eye sockets widened.

"Before we go, however, we must finish the show off, huh?"

The crowd cheered again, an obvious sign of an affirmative answer. Red was picked up again. A large glass tub rose up from in the stage, the paneling on the floor moving to accomodate it.

Napstatron stepped in front of it. "For the end of the show, we thought we'd try something more experimental. This tub," he gestured at the container, "is full of all of the blood we've collected, from both our contestant and its friend. It also contains some more interesting ingredients... including alcohol, salt, and vinegar. It's definitely enough to submerge our good friend in, isn't it?"

Sans smirked, floating Red up so he was suspended above the contraption. The small skeleton curled into a ball, more bone marrow dripping off his shattered bones to join the huge amount of red liquid in the tub.

A chant started up in the crowd, one that made him feel even more terrified.

"Drop it! Drop it! Drop it! Drop it! Drop it..." it continued for what seemed like forever, until Sans's smile grew, the only warning before Red was dropped into the mixture with a splash. The liquid was quickly sucked into his skull, and stung horribly there. It got between the cracks in his bones and even slipped into the hollow insides of them. He thrashed weakly, seeing only the red of the liquid around him and of his own haze of pain.   
He sobbed brokenly.

He could hear the muffled noises of the crowd screaming and laughing with glee, until Napstatron silenced them with more muffled words. There was a clicking sound, and the crowd roared, but nothing seemed to change. He had thought it couldn't get any worse, but by the monsters' reactions, it definitely could.

He went limp and let himself sink to the bottom, trying to block out the agony shooting through his entire being. The glass was.... hot?

He peered down with his one eye, determined to get past the blinding pain. His eyes widened when he realized what he was seeing. The tub sat over a giant stove-like contraption, and flames licked at  the glass. The small skeleton kicked off the bottom and swam to the top, his instincts making him desperate to get away from the hot glass.

Soon, the liquid began to heat up. If he hadn't known about the fire, he wouldn't have noticed the change. His bones had just gotten used to the pain of the liquid when the first bubbles began rising to the surface. They began to come up faster and faster. The exhausted skeleton's energy finally gave out, and he sank to the bottom again. He felt the boiling concoction sear into his bones, and soon felt the burning glass touch his back. His powerless body jerked and spasmed from pain, and he probably would have been screaming if his voice still worked and if his skull wasn't full of water.

The crowd slowly quieted down after their initial excitement, and Napstatron bowed.

"I hope you all enjoyed the show! Now, it's time to prepared for our invasion of the surface! I assume all of you would like to fight them?"

The crowd roared, riled up at the idea of drawing their enemies' blood.

"Preparations are being made at this very moment. Be ready when our queen breaks the barrier. It'll be a mad dash to the nearest city!"

The audience screeched in anticipation, all hurrying to file out and prepare.

Sans picked Red up with magic and dropped him to the floor next to him. He knelt and studied the unconscious skeleton. Napstatron joined him, pulling out a syringe. "This will heal his arms and legs enough to function, but he'll still be in pain. I understand that that's what you want."

Sans nodded and watched the syringe get stabbed and roughly injected into Red's neck.

Sans put his hand on Red's skull and focused his power on the collar. He smirked as he began emptying the skeleton of his memories, leaving the torture session and nothing else. He sent a shock through the small creature, waking it.

"Let's go see the queen." he said, attaching a leash to the collar and yanking on it.

The skeleton followed obediently, limping a bit and wincing at its pains.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well shit.


	12. XII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter!  
> Here we go.

 

Sans stood in the barrier room, pet laying next to him, panting from its long trek up to the throne room on its hands and knees. He knew a large mob of monsters waited in the throne room to charge to the surface and wreak havoc upon the humans. Toriel herself stood ahead of them, kneeling in front of the soul canisters. She opened all of them and summoned her soul, and the human souls seemed to circle around it without being told. She pushed all of the souls together into her own, and there was a brilliant flash of light.

Sans watched in awe, and felt a tug on the leash as his pet skittered backwards, terrified at the sudden sound and brightness.

When everything dimmed back down, a strange figure stood between them and the barrier. It had longer horns than Toriel, and wore a thick black, gold, and purple robe bearing the delta rune on it. Power emulated from her. She summoned a fire attack and held it in her hands for a moment, before looking at the barrier. She drew her arm back, and threw the magical fire at the barrier. It made contact with a loud bang, and at first, nothing happened. Then, the barrier seemed to develop a small crack where she'd hit it, before slowly spiderwebbing outwards. The whole thing trembled with a loud rumbling for a moment, before simply crashing down, sounding somewhere between shattering glass and an avalanch rolling down a mountain.

There was no longer anuthing on the floor or anywhere to show that the barrier had ever been there. Toriel looked out at the surface.

"Sans, it is time. Bring them in here." Her voice was garbled, and though somehow deeper, still sounded female.

The skeleton nodded and pulled his pet up to stand. It followed obediently when he walked, whimpering softly with each step. The two soon reached the throne room.

Monsters were packed into the golden, somehow sunlit room, waiting for orders. The guard was at the front, having been holding the rest back.

"It is done! Our queen has broken the barrier, and it is finally time to get our revenge against those who trapped us here!"

The crowd roared in exuberance and pushed forward as the guard at the front finally moved and let them. The small skeleton at his feet must have gotten stepped on, because it let out a loud whimper.

When the last of the common monsters had left, Sans gave a nod to the guard, who all turned and began running out to the surface together.

"Are you ready, pet?" He asked when the last of the monsters had left.

The wretched monster let out a sob in response, before giving a strangled yelp as he tugged it back to the barrier. The queen was gone, and the huge group of monsters was nowhere to be seen.

The two stayed there for a long time, until a fire seemed to start in a city on the horizon. Machines soon showed up, both on air and land, and tried to fight them. These were no match for toriel's fire. Many small flashes of light dotted the area, presumably monsters taking more and more human souls.

"Can't let them have all the fun, now, can we?"

He tugged on the leash and began sprinting. His pet basically flew in the air behind him as he sped down the mountain and towards the city. When he reached it, he heard screams of terror, and the sound of breaking glass, metal, wood, and bones. Humans were being slaughtered left and right, their souls being harvested like crops, making monsterkind even stronger.

He sent an order into his pet's head, though he said it out loud as well.   
"Kill them all."

His pet flinched. _Could it really still have morals?_ Sans wondered. He shocked it, and it yelped. It refused to do anything. He took control of its magic, and summoned a few bones and a giant blaster. He stabbed them into a few humans, and fired the blaster. They dropped like flies, their souls appearing above their corpses.

Sans leapt over to each and pressed them all into his armored rib cage, where they combined with his soul. He didn't change bodily, but his smile grew more violent and his eyelights brighter with every glowing soul he took from a mangled human corpse.

Unable to control itself any longer, and with the simple order of 'kill the humans', his pet threw attacks at every human it saw, unable to care whether they were fighting or fleeing. A small child cowering in the corner of an alley was blasted to a burnt pile of flesh, and a soldier, begging for mercy and mentioning his infant daughter needing him, was stabbed through the chest and beaten until he was nought but a bruised, bloodied corpse.

Sans seemed to be there to grab every soul from the humans his pet killed.

Soon enough, the city was seemingly empty. The monsters were gathered in the center, with the exception of Sans and his pet.

The two were scouring the buildings for survivors, and had found nothing, until finally, on the outskirts of town, they heard a small cry from a human as Sans stepped on his fingers.

He was immediately picked up, his soul glowing blue from Sans's magic, floating in front of him.

"Hello there." Sans said as he examined the beaten form.

He was seemingly a young one, eleven or twelve years of age. He stared at Sans in terror, his soul beating a mile a minute.

Surprisingly, the child was not killed. Sans looked at his pet. "You were friends with a child like this once, were you not, pet?"

The small skeleton looked at him, avoiding eye contact. "i-i think so, m-master."

"So would you be able to take care of this human until we can get it underground and get a slave compound built?"

The boy flinched, and the smaller monster nodded.

"Good. We'll be taking more victims in the next village, and we'll take them underground when we have many."

The child was quickly bound, his hands behind his back. The rope was then tied to the small skeleton's collar, so the child had to follow.   
When Sans began walking, his pet followed, pulling along the child, who didn't put up much of a fight, but did indeed sniff back terrified and sorrowful tears.

When they set up camp by the city that night, both Sans's pet and the child were chained up outside Sans's tent. The small skeleton was only chained to a small stake by its collar, but the human was tied around a telephone pole, standing, his arms stretched behind him and his legs held firmly in place.

After it felt Sans go to sleep, the small skeleton stood as well as it could and looked at the human. The boy returned his gaze fearfully, struggling a bit in his bonds.

"d-don't be scared of m-m-me, i w-won't hurt y-you..."

"Y... you won't?" He looked confused.

The wretched monster nodded. "i w-won't. n-not unless m-master makes me, but h-he's s-sleeping.  
...wh-what is your n-name?"

"I-i'm.. I'm Grayson... Wh-who are you?"

It shrugged. "i-i d-don't have a name... o-or if i d-did i don't remember... i-i guess the closest thing i have t-to a name is m-mutt."

"I'm going to call you Rouge, then."

"wh-why?"

"Because. You're red. And red in French is rouge." The kid didn't seem to be willing to say anything else on the matter, so the newly dubbed "rouge" shut up.

It supposed 'Rouge' was a good name. After all, it wasn't an insult.

"Can you let me go? I'm sure we could run away and hide."

Rouge shook its head. "h-he can track me. h-he'd make me k-kill you... th-then i-i'd get p-punished..."

"Oh.... Punished?" Grayson asked.

"y-you don't w-w-want to know..." Rouge was almost crying at just the thought of it.

"Why are you all red?

"wh-what?"

"You're red. He's not..." Grayson gestured at the tent with his head.

Nine looked at itself. It was indeed all red. "i-i... i d-don't want to talk a-about it..."

"Why are you naked?"

"n-not allowed to h-h-have clothes, i-i guess..."

The child kept asking questions, some of them kind of stupid. Rouge assumed it was because he didn't want to be alone.

\- - -

"You say the machine that brought you here looks like this?"

Blue nodded. "We spent more time on this on though, so it shouldn't break."

They both grabbed onto the counter as Edge turned the machine on.

"I guess this is our best way to test it."

A portal appeared next to the machine. Edge threw an apple that had been sitting on the counter into it, and it didn't seem to affect the machine much.

"Should we just go, then?" He asked.

Blue shrugged. "I guess... there's not much else we can do, is there?"

Edge shook his head.

Blue sighed."Let's hope this works, then."

He let go of the counter and walked to the portal, feeling a slight tug from it. He slowly stepped through, followed quickly by Edge, and the portal turned off behind them.

They looked around, and saw an empty lab. The lights were on, but there was so much dust (not monster dust, mind you,) here that it could not have been used recently.

Edge walked to a big moniter on the wall, and looked at it. He saw images from the point of view of cameras, placed all around the underground. He flipped through them.

"No one's here..."

"Check the barrier room..." Blue requested.

Edge did so, and both gasped as all they saw was an empty cave, leading out into a sunlit mountain.

"Oh! Everyone's on the surface!" Blue grinned.

A machine like the one that they had built back in Edge's universe was by the wall. Blue walked to it and turned it on, not activating the portal.

A screen by the control panel lit up. It showed all of the portal's uses, though there were only two.

**[Use > out > 2 weeks]**

That would be when he tripped through.

The other was more recent.

**[Use > Out > 3 days]**

It seemed someone had used this three days ago, and had not come back.

Blue wondered if it had been Stretch, or if someone else had tested it.

"Edge, can you look at old footage on there?" He asked.

"Probably." The taller replied.

"Can you get the footage in this room from three days ago?

Edge nodded, and began pushing buttons, mumbling to himself to keep track of things. "No, not that one... this room, yes.... three days- no, not three weeks. Days."

After a few minutes, he managed to get it showing.

It was indeed Stretch. He worked on the machine, looking tired and malnourished. Edge skipped forward a bit, and the screen showed Stretch again, only now he was standing by the machine, activating it. Then he stepped through the portal, without even testing it.

"So he's not here." Blue said. He looked to the machine. "We need to follow him."

Edge sighed and stood. He walked back over to the machine and slowly activated the portal.

"It seems stable. We can go."

Blue quickly walked through, leaving Edge with no choice but to follow him.

They came out into another lab, this one definitely more recently used. Currently being used, they realized as a confused voice sounded from nearby. "O-oh my! Who are you two? H-how did you get in here?"

They looked to see a very flustered Alphys, a laptop slammed shut in front of her.

Edge covered his mouth to hold in a laugh, knowing exactly what she had been doing on that computer.

Blue didn't seem to recognize this. "Erm... Sorry, ma'am. We didn't mean to disturb you. We're just passing through. We'll be out of your way."

He grabbed Edge's arm and led him out. He pulled him down the walkway, and turned to go down some stairs leading to the river.

"Can you take us to Snowdin please?"

The hooded figure nodded. "Hop on."

Blue grinned and stepped on, Edge following suit.

"Thank you!"

The river person nodded, and the boat began to move.

Sometime in the middle of their short voyage, the river person spoke. "Beware of the man who speaks in hands."

Edge tilted his head. "What...?" The more he thought, the more he had a good idea what that meant.

Blue shrugged. "I guess they just say weird things sometimes."

They soon reached Snowdin and stepped off the boat.

"Come again sometime!" The river person called as they walked towards the house where They hoped to find Stretch. When they reached it, Blue slowly approached it and knocked on the door.

The monster who answered it was not what either of them expected. He looked like Edge, but was missing half his arm, and the crack was on a different eyesocket. He looked as if he was about to speak, but then his eyelights locked on Blue.

His sockets widened and he began to tremble. "m-m'lord...?" He looked fearful.

A voice came from out of sight from the door. "Jazz? Are you okay?"

Another skeleton walked into view. He was taller than 'Jazz', but looked similar, minus the missing arm, crack on his eyesocket, and sharp teeth. The newest skeleton stared at them, confused.

Blue looked back at him. "Hi!"

'Jazz' was now hiding behind the new one, who turned to talk to him.

"Is that him?"

"n-no, i-i don't think... m-maybe?"

The taller turned back to them. "Um... Hello...? Who are you two?"

"Oh! I'm Blue! And this is my friend Edge."

Edge gave an awkward wave. "Hey."

"th-that's not h-him." 'Jazz' stuttered softly to the other, who nodded.

"Well, I'm Russel, and this is Jazz. I apologize for the awkwardness, we thought you might be Jazz's brother, who... well... he's not a good person...  
Anways, come in!"

The two walked inside, and Russel closed the door. "I assume you're another Sans and Papyrus? There's a lot of us here now." He chuckled.

Blue tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

Russel took a seat on the couch, Jazz soon sitting next to him. "Sit, if you want."

Blue and Edge both sat.

"I said there's a lot of us now, because there was me and my brother, and then Jazz got here, but then Stretch showed up, and now you two!"

"Stretch?" Blue's eyes were wide.

"Yes, he's a Papyr-"

"I know! He's my brother! Where is he?"

"Oh! He's at Grillby's with Comic, my brother. They were talking about something. Probably important. They'll be back soon."

Just as he said that, another skeleton walked into the house.

"pap, we're ho-" the other sans stopped in the middle of what he was saying. "well okay then..."

A voice came from behind him. "something wrong, comic?"

Blue's eyes widened at hearing the voice, and he ran towards it, pushing past Comic and tackle hugging its owner.

"Brother!" They both fell to the snowy ground outside.

A very confused voice answered him. "wha-..." Stretch looked down at him. "sans!"

He immediately wrapped his arms around the other, grinning and nuzzling his brother's skull.

"I missed you!" The smaller cried, pulling back from the hug to sit in front of him.

"i missed you too, bro! are you okay? you're not hurt at all?"

Blue shook his head. "Nope! I'm fine! Are you okay?"

Stretch nodded. "i was just worried about you, so now everything's fine!" He stood up, Blue following suit.

They both walked into the house, Stretch stopping for a moment when he saw Edge.

"Don't worry about him, he's good!"

"...um... i know..."

Edge looked at him. "Um... I'm sorry for... well... everything I did... even though I can't remember..."

Stretch nodded. "it's fine... just don't do it again."

The six skeletons stayed silent for a bit, before Blue spoke up. "Do you know where Red is?"

Stretch nodded. "yes, but.... we can't get there..."

"Where?" He asked

"in jazz's universe." Stretch answered. "with jazz's brother... he's like edge was but worse..."

There was silence for a few seconds, then Blue's face fell. "O-oh..."

Edge looked worried. "Well can we save him?"

"i don't know how to get there... I don't know if we can..."

"There's got to be a way. What universe did he get there from?"

"mine, i think."

"Shouldn't we try from there, then?"

"then we'd have to go back there... and i mean... jazz got here from his universe... so we should be able to get there from here." Stretch said.

"Oh," Edge nodded. "That makes sense."

Comic sighed. "i wish there was a better way than fixing that machine...  
i have it half finished in the basement...."

"that's a better start than i had."

"i suppose it is.."

Edge thought for a bit. "What exactly do we know about Red's situation?"

"well... we know he's in bad shape, and we know that he's in jazz's universe, with his brother, who is evil. and i know that sans has taken his memories away, and he can only keep them in his dreams, which take place in the void, if course, since that's where everything forgotten goes."

"Wait... is his father there? He was forgotten..."

Stretch nodded. "so is jazz's dad... i don't quite trust them but..." he shrugged.

Jazz stared at him. "my father?"

Comic looked shocked and confused.

Stretch looked over at him. "their fathers aren't like ours. they never went through with... well.... that.."

"oh.. they sound good then.." Comic remarked, still looking skeptical.

Stretch nodded.

"i don't understand... i have a father?"

"yes. you probably forgot him, but he created you and your brother. he was then erased from existence, and currently resides in the void." Stretch answered.

"o-oh," he responded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dumb place to end, I know, but I haven't any more time this morning and I wanted to finish it today. I've been taking too long.
> 
> So yeah, I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> And this is the part where I beg for comments. I love comments.


	13. XIII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll fix the typos LATER  
> Anyways  
> I finally did this. By the end of this chapter, you'll have a new boi to see tortured.  
> Because I didn't have enough angst already.
> 
> Aight let's go

Over the next few weeks, Rouge and Grayson ended up as only the first few in a long line of prisoners. Now, the skeleton led them all back down into the underground. Through the destroyed barrier room they were marched, the sounds of sniffling and crying echoing in the judgement hall as they passed through.

They headed through the blistering heat of hotlands and into the humid waterfall. The humans began to shiver as the wet area became colder in its transition to the cold of Snowdin.  
When they reached the town, Sans raised his hand, simultaneously stopping Rouge and summoning an enormous blaster. It filled up the entirety of the cavern before them. It began charging up, then, with an earsplitting bang, shot a bright, powerful beam into the area ahead. When the dust cleared, nothing was left of the town.

The humans had all fallen to the floor at the bang, with their more sensetive ears. Rouge and Sans were the only two standing after.

Once everyone had recovered and the blaster had dissipated, a wall of thick bones shot up between snowdin and waterfall, and more did the same at the other edge of the ruined town.

After a second of silence, more bones came and sliced the ropes binding the humans.

"Attack me, and you will die." Sans announced loudly.

The humans didn't seem to want to do that anyways. Most were sitting, huddled up together.

"Now... You will stay here, pet. You'll know when I need you."

Rouge nodded obediently, shivering and rubbing its arms.

"Good boy. I'll have to feed you tonight, you've done very well."

It looked hopeful at that. Its face fell a bit, though, as it remembered that meals came along with a... "payment.."

Still, it thanked him. "Th-thank you, master..."

A smirk decorated the other's face, and Rouge flinched as it was roughly kicked and shoved into the snow. Its head was stepped on, forcing his cheek down into the freezing snow. It whimpered softly, but did not fight him.

"Good~. Such an obedient pet."

Yes, it was an obedient pet.  
Maybe Master would pet it later if it did well tonight.

The pressure on Rouge's skull lifted, so it sat up on its knees to look at its master. It awaited an order silently, avoiding his eyes.

"Now. I want you to use your magic to make a building for these slaves. It doesn't need to be warm, it just needs to keep them in. I don't care how tired you get. I'll be back this afternoon. Be done then or you'll regret it."

Rouge nodded. "Y-yes master.."

Suddenly, the powerful skeleton was gone.

Immediately, Rouge stood and teleported out into Snowdin forest. It had gotten a few human souls, though not nearly as many as Sans. It was powerful enough for this job

It had orders, so it began carelessly blasting the bottoms of trees, until a hundred or so were down. Then, the bark, branches, and needles were blasted off with circles of blasters. When it had a sizable stack of logs, it encased them all in blue magic and teleported them and itself back to the compound area.

Maybe it could get this job done quick and add other things that his master would want here. It got affection for doing well.

The humans watched it warily. Grayson sat with a few others, looking sad and worried.

Rouge ignored them and began to cut the logs to the sizes he wanted.

By afternoon when Sans returned, a decent-looking shack sat in the middle of the cleared area. Along with that, there was a hole dug in the ground with a cage-like trapdoor over top.

Some half-finished walls ran parallel with the bones, likely so Sans wouldn't have to use his magic for too much longer to keep the walls up.

Rouge was passed out by the unfinished wall, small form splayed out in the snow. Sans smirked.

"Hmm~..."

He walked to the large shack and unlocked the door to look inside. The humans were huddled up inside, shivering.

He closed and locked the door, then walked to his pet. He kicked the small monster, which made a startled noise and upon seeing him, moved to its knees.

"M-master, I added some walls along with the building, a-and a pit to p-put the slaves in i-if they misbehave..."

"You did well. Good job."

He reached forward and rubbed Rouge's head gently. It leaned into his touch, closing its eyes.

"Th-thank you..."

"Tonight we will stay on the surface. Tomorrow you will build a house for us in here."

"Y-yes, master.

They were both suddenly in a human house.

"Go lay on the couch. You know what you need. I will feed you after."

Rouge whimpered and nodded. It didn't like this part.

\- - -

After a few weeks, the compound was complete. Rouge had added a fireplace to the containment area (off limits to the humans, of course), and added another building, which it had painted. It was currently laying on the couch in said house, head in Sans's lap. Th other was in a good mood. He had let his pet on the couch and pet it.

Rouge relaxed as Sans gently strolled the back of his skull and rubbed his back gently.

"Tell me who you belong to."

"Y-you, master... I belong to only y-you, m-master."

Sans was happy with his answer, and rubbed Rouge's skull more. Rouge liked these moments, despite the faint disgusted embarrassment that always arose deep in its soul. It preferred this over being hurt, yelled at, or given orders.

At these times it got to be warm and comfortable.

"Th-thank you f-for this, M-master..  
You're so g-good to me..." Maybe he could draw this out longer if he made his appreciation of it known.

"Mhm~." Sans answered, a wicked smirk on his face. "I want you to stay in the slave compound tonight. I think they're planning an escape."

"Y-yes, Master. D-do you want me to stop them, o-or t-tell you what plans I h-hear? I-i can go in s-silently to hear them..."

"Tell me their plans. We'll stop them."

"O-okay."

\- - -

Grayson shivered and pushed more into the huddle the rest of the humans were in. They were planning. They'd already began digging under the wall of the holding area, and had been hiding it under a mat that Sans had allowed them to have. A few people were digging currently, using shards of wood they had picked up from the ground outside and hidden from when Rouge had been cutting the wood.

"How are we going to get out of the walls, though? There's no gate.." one, a mother, asked, holding her sleeping baby close.

"I noticed a rock face by the wall that has good hand and footholds. We'll have to use that to get to the top, then jump down." The leader, a strong looking woman named Joan responded. "I can help catch people."

The rest of the group nodded.

Grayson, on the outside of the group, sighed. The plan would never work. The skeletons would find them before they got out of the underground. He heard a small noise from a dark corner of the room. He quickly looked, but saw nothing. He slowly crept away from the group to investigate.

He held his breath, squinting and waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dark.

He couldn't see anything. Then, however, he heard a clattering to his left.

He leapt that way and landed on something. Or someone...?

He grabbed hold of the creature.

A startled squeak was all he heard, and he felt a bony hand try to push him away. The commotion had alerted the rest of the group.

"Grayson? That you?" Joan's voice rang out.

"Y-yeah! I, uh..  
Rouge is here."

"L-let go of me... p-please... M-master's gonna be so mad.."

"Bring him over here."

Grayson stood and helped Rouge up. "We won't hurt you.. Calm down."

"G-grayson, n-no... i-i thought we were friends, p-please let me go.." it begged, becoming panicked.

Grayson dragged him - it wasn't very hard, Rouge was a very weak monster - to the rest of the group. Some glared at the small skeleton.

"P-please, M-master'll get so ma-" its expression changed and two very faint red eyelights appeared in its sockets.

"Sans is asleep." Grayson announced at seeing that. "Rouge, why are you here?"

"I-i... Master s-sent me... h-he wanted me to figure out what y-you were p-planning...  
I-i don't want t-to, but h-he'll..." it rubbed its arms, pulling away from Grayson a bit.

Grayson seemed to understand, but no one else did.

"Well tell him you didn't hear anything." One man said.

There were noises of agreement from the group.

"I-i w-would if I c-could... I-i am unable t-to lie to h-him. H-he has full control o-over me."

"Suuurrre he does." The man responded.

"He really does... this is a problem..." Grayson put his head in his hands, rubbing his eyes.

"Just kill it!" Someone shouted.

"H-he probably w-wouldn't c-care if you did... i-i won't stop y-you..." Rouge responded, eyes going dark.

"No. We are not killing him." Grayson glared at the one who had made the suggestion.

"We have its consent though!"

"Maybe, but he's my friend. I won't allow it." Grayson's glare hardened.

"Since when were you in charge?"

"S-stop... i-i...   
I-i never heard how you're getting out of this room. I-i'll tell him the t-truth about that... b-but I h-have to tell him a-about how y-you plan to get out o-over the wall."

"Well... you never heard when we plan to do this, right?" Joan seemed thoughtful.

It nodded.

"Okay. We can work this out..." she accepted it.

"Th-thank y-you... I-i'll have to tell h-him you caught m-me...  
A-and you're g-gonna end up getting punished for p-planning...  
Y-you shouldn't t-try to resist him... h-he'll always find you. I-it hurts less to l-listen..." then the little red skeleton vanished.

\- - -

"So you got caught?" There was a dangerous glint in Sans's eye.

"Y-yes sir... I-I'm sorry..."

"UGH!" A smack sent the poor skeleton to the floor. It braced itself. "So goddamn USELESS!"

It was kicked hard. Then, again and again and again. It curled up tightly.

"I-I'm sorry, m-master! I-i d-d-didn't mean to!!"

The racket could be heard by the captives. Most winced at each crunch and crack that came from Rouge's bones.

Grayson sat in a corner, covering his ears.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang that shook the whole underground. Sans went silent, and the only noises were Rouge's muffled cries.

Then, they heard Razz growl.

Outside, the purple clad skeleton was glaring at a gaping hole in the wall on the waterfall side. A large group of humans stood behind the wall.

Suddenly, they all charged in. Razz growled.  He fought them off quite easily, slaughtering many. However, while he fought, he didn't notice the humans sneaking over to where the captives were kept, or the figure on top of the wall, aiming some sort of strange weapon at him.

The ones at the hold  broke through the wall with axes, and began escorting the others out.

Sans noticed this, and began sending attacks over that way. But he didn't see the figure on the wall fire the weapon.

Rouge did, however. And Rouge's main purpose was to aid Sans. He had been working his way towards the other, and, seeing the human fire, he leapt out in front and was hit. Then, the world went black.

Sans saw the naked skeleton fall, and looked around fast to see the source of whatever hit him.

He noticed the figure, but much too late as it fired again.

He fell backwards and all his attacks dissipated.

\- - -

When Rouge awoke, it was to a cold concrete cell.

It was on the hard floor, splayed out as if it'd been thrown in. It sat up, and felt something strange brush against it with the movement. Clothing...? The feeling was just from a pair of pants. But it felt strange in the fabric. It was a welcome strangeness, however.

It looked around. The room was quite dark. Over in the corner was a sort of mat. The skeleton stood and walked towards the mat, whimpering at the soreness of its bones.

It then realized how tired it was. The thought was emphasized by how it collapsed half way to the mat.

It grunted and weakly dragged itself the rest of the way there. When it reached the mat, it sat up against the wall and pulled out its soul to check itself.

 **Rouge:**  
**ATK: 1**  
**DEF: 1**  
**HP: 1**  
**EXP: 0**  
**LV: 1**

 _What?_  
It had killed so many... it knew it shouldn't have 0 EXP, but there it was. And the soul was...  
Small. And weak.  
The souls Sans had let it absorb were just... not there.

It put the soul away and brought its knees up to hug them. This was too much change. Its body wasn't taking it well.

Its stomach growled. Strange. It'd eaten before the attack... Its body was used to not eating.. it shouldn't be this bad yet.

_How long was_ _I_ _out?_

It slowly closed its eyes and dozed off.

\- - -

When it awoke, it was being carried by some sort of guard. The guard was carrying him down a hall. It didn't struggle, only looked around, shaking a bit.

As they walked by a door, the skeleton heard words from behind it.

"Oh, yeah~.. fuck~..  
How does it feel to be payed back for what you've done~?" One voice purred out rather loudly.

Another voice rang out, shaky and stuttering. This speaker was obviously crying. Sobbing, even. "N-NO! T-take it O-out... P-please... It hurts!!"  
Ahh-!  
N-no, no, nO,  NO, N-NO, PLEASE!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Owo what's this  
> Killme  
> Itsnoteventhathardtoguess-  
> Whatever!  
> Trying to get back into the swing of things.   
> Hope you enjoyed!


	14. XIV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eyyy lmao I exist!!  
> I'm sorry about the long as waits to anyone who cares  
> I had this posted on Wattpad back in September but just got around to putting it here!  
> I'm gonna try to update again soon!

"wh-what do you mean you don't know where he is!?" Stretch had ended up in the void again that night when he fell asleep, only to have the two skeletons he barely trusted tell him they'd lost Red.

"We were watching him, and then we looked away for around an hour to watch you and see what you were planning. But when we opened the window to check on him, the place was ruined and no one was there. We don't know where they went, therefore we can't watch them anymore. We have no idea what's happening there." Dings replied, his voice shaking.

"shit. sh-shit, this isn't good. h-have you checked everywhere?" The panic in Stretch's voice was rising.

"Everywhere we kn-know, but we can't just open a window someplace we've never s-seen." G gripped his arms tightly, shaking.

"w-we can't just show up there without knowing where to g-go... that m-machine is d-done, we just needed coordinates... i-i thought we were getting close, i-i thought we could finally save h-him!" He gripped his skull, trembling.

He felt a heaviness wrap around his shoulders and opened his eyes to see that G was hugging him. Though it looked and felt more like he was being absorbed because of G's composition. He flailed himself and squirmed out of the hold, breathing hard and fast. His breathing quickened and became heavier until he suddenly disappeared.

He awoke at his temporary desk in a cold sweat, trembling. He'd passed out there not long ago, in the middle of writing out equations to figure out where to set the destination of the machine.

He stood immediately. "c-comic! edge!" He stood and stumbled to them.

"th-they lost r-red... th-they don't know where h-he is... w-we can't go!"

Both of the other skeletons' eyes widened.

"God damn it! We finally got the coordinates and now we have no direction once we get there?"

Stretch nodded, rubbing his hand from his forehead down to the back of his skull as if running his phalanges through hair. He had teared up and was now crying, the hope of getting back to his love soon now shattered.

Comic looked mostly frustrated. He had no reason to be worried about Red, he'd never met him. Still, he did feel a pang of empathy for the two troubled versions of his brother. "do they at least know whether he's alive?"

Stretch shook his head. "they don't know what happened. i knew we shouldn't have trusted them. they only gave us false hope damn it." He didn't bother to stop the fat orange tears sliding down his face.

\- - -

Jazz launched himself simultaneausly from Russel's arms and the bed, landing with a thud on the floor. He panted heavily, scooting backwards across the floor and curling up tight against the wall. He trembled intensely, a half scream ripping from his throat.

Russel was up in a moment and crossed the room in two long strides. He kneeled next to the panicking skeleton and put his hands on his shoulders.

"Jazz! J-jazz, calm down!"

Jazz flinched violently and curled up tighter against the wall, wrenching himself from Russel's hold. It seemed he was still stuck in whatever nightmare he was facing. Twin streams of tears slid down his cheeks as he gasped for breath.

"s-stop, stop, i-i didn't mean to, m-m'lord, please!!" He yelled, his voice cracking and trembling.

He fell sideways in his curled up position, laying in a fetal position. His panting slowed, but he looked no less terrified. "p-please..."

He sounded almost resigned, as if whatever was in his dream was something he knew he couldn't get out of.

A look of discomfort made its home on his face then, and he went limp. Russel watched, a shaking hand reaching out towards the other.

A yellow glow appeared through Jazz's pants, and his tears started anew, his eye sockets shutting tighter.

"m-m'lord, i-i don't want th-this..." he whimpered out.

The realization of the current situation hit Russel, and it pushed him into action. He moved closer to the shaking form and shook him. "Jazz! W-wake up!!" He couldn't let him go through that.

Nothing happened, so he shook him harder. After a few minutes of having to listen to the poor skeleton's suffering, he finally awoke with a loud yelp, trembling and sitting up fast.

"J-jazz! Finally!"

"r-russel?" Jazz whimpered out.

He let out another yelp as Russel threw his arms around him and hugged him tightly. "I-i couldn't wake you up- you were having a nightmare and I-..  
I'm so sorry..."

He returned the hug shakily, the yellow glow in his pants fading.

"i-i woke you up, didn't i... i'm sorry..."

"N-no, no, don't be..." Russel held him close to his chest and kissed his skull. "It wasn't your fault."

Jazz turned his face to look up at him. "y-you p-probably figured out what i was dreaming about.... i'm disgusting..."

"No, you're not, Jazz... none of that was your fault..." he rubbed the still shaky skeleton's back comfortingly, sending out calming waves from his soul. He mimicked the movement of breathing, taking deep breaths in and out.

Jazz copied his motions, breathing in time with him, maybe without even realizing it. His breathing gradually became less shaky, and he became drowsy as he focused on his breathing.

Russel stood and picked him up bridal style, holding him close. He laid him back on the bed and laid next to him, before pulling the blankets over them.

Jazz turned and latched onto him. He returned the hold and kissed his skull gently before resting his chin there and letting Jazz bury his face in shirt.

"i-i.... i love you, russel..."

"i love you, too."

Both skeletons closed their eyes to go to sleep, small smiles decorating their faces.

\- - -

_Subject 2 opened its eyes to see_ _a white_ _ceiling dotted with bright lights. It shivered and tried to move,_ _only_ _to find itself strapped to a metal table by its neck, forehead, wrists, and ankles. It arched its back uncomfortably away from_ _the_ _cold surface, and heard a door open._

_A gust of cool air hit it, likely from_ _whatever_ _area existed beyond the opened door. It shivered, and became aware that it was naked. It began to tremble._

_It heard footsteps approaching it and struggled weakly, whimpering._

_"Subject 02. Do not struggle." It felt a sharp... something.. jabbed into its arm. It was then pulled out._

_After a few seconds of nothing, searing pain exploded from the spot in a wave of agony, making it stiffen. Its back arched again and it screamed. Its vision blacked out but the pain stayed, and it felt as if its body was on fire and turning to_ _ice_ _at the same time._

_Something was_ _stuffed_ _into the skeleton's open mouth, muffling its agonized wailing._

_"Second DT injection on Set 5, Subject 02. It seems to be in pain, but this is normal. No melting yet. The other Set 5 subject withstood the DT well, maybe Subject 02 will, too. I am going to_ _attempt_ _to_ _give_ _it the blaster_ _power_ _as well, if it survives."_

_What felt like_ _hours_ _of pure pain passed before it started to die down. The subject said nothing. It_ _knew_ _they didn't like it when it spoke._

_After a few minutes,_ _another_ _syringe was poked into its still sore arm._ _After_ _a few seconds, more pain shot_ _to_ _all corners of its body. This_ _pain_ _was_ _different_ _. The subject felt too full. Like it was an overfilled_ _balloon_ _. It needed to release energy,_ _but_ _the straps on the table_ _wouldn't_ _let it. It_ _couldn't_ _use its_ _magic_ _and release the horrible stuff, and was forced to lay there in agony. It wanted to be back in its cell with Subject 1._

_This pain continued for a while until the magic calmed, leaving it sore from being forced to hold it in._

_It was unbuckled and shoved off the table._

_"Subject 02. Go to the observation room."_

_It picked itself up and walked shakily to the other side of the room it_ _was_ _in, into a white room with a one-way window._

_A door_ _shut_ _behind it as_ _it_ _stumbled in._

_A speaker above_ _its_ _head turned on. "Subject 02. Defend."_

_The far wall opened, revealing an obscene amount of weapons behind it, all trained on the small skeleton. It flinched and summoned a wall of bones around itself, like it always did in this situation. It was shocked by a collar_ _around_ _its_ _neck_ _and the bones disappeared._

_"You are not to use those."_

_The weapons_ _fired._

_The subject panicked. No bones!? It_ _couldn't_ _dodge these! They were going to kill it!_

_It fell to the floor_ _and_ _curled in on itself, its eyes flaring in its panic. There was a loud bang, and the_ _skeleton_ _screamed._

_Then, it opened its eyes, shocked to find itself intact, and unhurt. It looked at where the weapons had been and saw that the room was charred, and something_ _huge_ _floated in front of it._

_"Good._  
_Now fire it again."_

_It_ _took_ _a moment, but the skeleton was able to obey. It_ _panted_ _from the exertion._

_"Fire."_

_It did so._

_"Fire."_

_It obeyed, panting heavily._

_"Fire."_

_This continued until the_ _skeleton_ _dropped_ _to the floor in utter exhaustion, its_ _little_ _body trembling and twitching_ _from_ _the effort._

_"Subject 02. Do not be_ _lazy_ _. Fire."_

_It could not obey._

_The attack wavered to life, but disappeared as soon as it appeared._

_It felt burning pain from its collar and fell unconscious._

\- - -

Blue awoke in a cold sweat, sitting up and gripping his arms.

He remembered the dream only vaguely, but it had been of a common sort recently. White lights, restraints, exhaustion, and pain.

He gripped his chest and got out of the makeshift bed he'd been sleeping in. He didn't think he could fall asleep again after that.

He walked upstairs to the bathroom, rubbing his arms. Upon reaching it, he went inside and turned on the shower before undressing. He felt sweaty, cold, and gross. He turned the water as hot as he could manage and stepped in, letting the near scalding water wash away the sweat. He didn't use any soap, and only stayed in for about a minute before deciding it was enough and stepping out. He turned the water off and toweled himself dry, already feeling much better. He redressed himself, and then exited the bathroom.

He walked down the stairs and sat down on the couch. He looked around the room. The makeshift bed sat between the TV and the staircase. He and his brother had been sharing it, since neither minded sleeping near the other. Edge had been taking the lumpy couch every night.

Comic, Stretch, and Edge seemed to still be downstairs working on the machine. Blue brought his knees up and hugged them, staring at the TV, which was off.

He wished he could be helpful. He didn't understand all of the math and planning the skeletons downstairs were doing enough to be of much help. The place wasn't large enough to fit many people, anyways. Three was certainly enough.

And he couldn't help comfort Jazz. Russel was on that, and Blue looked too much like that horrible skeleton for the poor guy to feel comfortable around him.

He felt quite useless here.

But...

He _could_ make everyone breakfast. It was around four in the morning. He could spend all the time he wanted and still be done before the others woke up.

Blue grinned and stood. He skipped into the kitchen and began to gather ingredients. Maybe a delicious breakfast would help the others relax after so much stress! Then, they could continue their attempts to do what they needed with renewed vigor!!

\- - -

 _Another voice rang out, shaky and stuttering. This speaker was obviously crying. Sobbing, even. "N-NO! T-take it O-out... P-please... It hurts!!"_  
_Ahh-!_  
_N-no, no, nO, NO, N-NO, PLEASE!"_

-

Rouge flinched at the familiar voice and began to struggle from the large guard's grip.

"M-master!" It croaked, its voice weak.

The sobbing continued, and became fainter as they passed the door by and continued down the hall.

Its master was in trouble! Its breathing became heavier and it struggled more wildly. The human didn't even budge. That didn't stop Rouge from struggling all the way down the hall and into a room. It was tossed onto a cot.

"Sleep. You need it." Was all the man said.

Despite this, Rouge got up and started pacing. It needed to think. What could it do? The humans had Master. They were hurting him!! But it couldn't get away to help!  
It would be in a lot of trouble when Master got out...

\- - -

Sans panted heavily and curled into a tight ball as soon as the man let him go.

"Pff. You can dish it out but you can't take it, huh?"

He flinched and sobbed, his naked body trembling, slick with sweat. He felt so dirty...

"I-I'm sorry... p-p-please, l-let me go..."

"Not after what you pulled. You killed so many humans. You don't get to just leave. I imagine you'll be tortured and killed. Or used like this forever."

Sans did _not_ want that. He knew he'd done something horrible, but his memories weren't clear enough to confirm or deny anything anyone said. And he had no way to fight back. The meager 1 LV he now possessed- he knew he was meant to have more- was too weak to do anything of use with his magic.

The door clicked shut and he was left on the soiled cot, trembling and whining. He was pathetic. But if he had done the things they said he did...  
Maybe he deserved it.

He closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry for the wait!  
> This is 600 words shorter than the rest, but I just couldn't think of anything else to write for this chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> Here have a shitty thing. I actually had this as part of a larger chapter, but 6,000 words was getting a bit excessive, so I decided to break it up. The next part should be out very soon. For now, I hope you enjoy this!
> 
> Also please tell me if you saw any typos while reading this. I read through it to try to find them all but sometimes it doesn't work.
> 
> Until the next chapter!


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